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PeovieEhORTAL 


OF THE 


Rev. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER, 


PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 


IN 


GROTON, CONN. 


EDITED BY THE 
Reve). DEFOREST, 


MOUNT CARMEL, CONN, 


NEW YORK: 
DODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS, 
762 BROADWAY. 





PRS EB ALC Re. 


This book is not for the Public. There are abler 
sermons, doubtless, in every library: there are men 
whose influence is wider, whose story is more inter- 
esting, and whose work was more public than Mr. 
Tyler’s. 

I have put in print this Sketch of his Life, and 
a selection from his sermons, because his instruc- 
tors, his classmates, his scholars, his hearers, and 
his friends desire to have something of him in an 


enduring form, 


I have to thank those who have so kindly assisted 
in this work, both by putting me in the way of in- 
formation, and by their generous contributions of 


money. 
ob DEROREST: 


wir Carmel, Dec. 1872. 








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GON ise Nek Ss. 


PART I. 
SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. PAGE, 
PE DOVIOODEAND. GONVERSION =e c:naiis cin siance.ct weve ces amace 7 
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7. SICKNESS AAD aA HO Ge; (sds ci SHINS OUDUIO | Ea OSGOnOae 50 
APPENDIX— | 
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De aaccns A IO esa Saleen wea orees SOUR SEs OR an peaesaG 93 
PART II. 
SERMONS. 
I. Tue FaTHEeR REJOICING OVER THE PENITENT PRODIGAL 95 
II, Two Sraczs tn CurisTIAN LIFE........... Heletaeeise sky LIQ) 
PIRES ING GINRIST srateraicin.s:c ia v's, «(crale.c sie, claiaseia Hin dye Ser eratelonsiels BEISe 


IV. Posirion oF Mosss’s LAW UNDER THE GospPEL Dis- 
BENSA TION Aan oa dinic ofcne oe emia aiol ake eo palpicteate I59 


Ve NSWERABILE RAVER. ..c uinsisterrmee ohare eeu 18x 





SKETCH OF THE LIFE 


OF 


JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 


I. HIS BOYHOOD AND CONVERSION. 


HE was born at Brainerd Station, in the 
Island of Jamaica, W. I., March 23, 1842. His 
parents returned to the States in June, 1843. 
In November, 1843, they took up their resi- 
dence in Danby, near Ithaca, N. Y., where he 
remained until he was five years of age. In 
September, 1847, they removed to New Ha- 
ven—their home since that time. During his 
early childhood, his mother was his almost 
sole companion. Her cares being few, and 
having little society, she spent much of her 
time in entertaining him with stories and pic- 
tures. His desire for learning to read stories 
induced him to pick out letters and words 


8 MEMORIAL OF THE 


from books, so that at the age of four he could 
read children’s stories in an intelligent man- 
ner. His thirst for knowledge was inherent. 
His mind was never forced. He was never 
idle. He spent a part of his time in obsery- 
ing the habits of insects and of animals that 
came in his way. He was naturally cautious, 
but courageous and devoid of fear. From 
early childhood he was in the habit of making 
the best of his circumstances, and bore little 
difficulties without complaining. Praise and 
blame influenced him, but still more the prin- 
ciples of truth and right. He was sensitive 
to injustice in every form, and especially in- 
dignant at the petty tyranny of the strong 
over the weak. 

After his removal to New Haven he was 
sent to school, and fell in with boys of all 
sorts. The strongest minds, whether of bad 
or good, gained power over him by their sup- 
posed superior knowledge. Between the 
ages of seven and ten, he lost his desire for 
knowledge gained by study, and often played 
truant. For this fault he was several times 
severely punished. 





HEV. JAMES BRAINERD TVLER. 9 


About the age of ten, his thirst for knowl- 
edge returned, and he was sent to a boy’s 
school, kept by an excellent man, a graduate 
of college. Here he made rapid progress. 
Hearing a class recite daily in Latin, he be- 
sought his father to allow him to join them. 
His father objected, on the ground that a 
good English education was all he would 
need. James did not think so; and so, for 
his own recreation, borrowed Latin text- 
books of the boys and kept up with the class, 
though he did not recite. At last, by the en- 
treaty of his teacher and his own promise of 
faithfulness in his other studies, his father’s 
consent was gained. 

At one time, having been sent on an errand 
in the vicinity of the college, and having seen 
the students with their books, he came to his 
mother and asked, ‘“ Ma, do you think I can 
ever go to college?’ Her reply was, “ Keep 
on studying till you are fitted, and then we 
will see.’ He did keep on, with little in- 
terruption, until he was graduated from the 
Hopkins Grammar School as valedictorian of 


the class of 1860, having taken several prizes 
2 


IO MEMORIAL OF THE 


for excellence in his studies and in geometri- 
cal drawing. 

James, in his life among boys, was active, 
wide-awake ; fond of fun, athletic sports, comic 
scenes, andallsorts ofmnocent mirth. Hissense 
of the ludicrous and the grotesque was great. 

Much of his leisure was spent in drawing, 
painting in water colors, sketching in pencil, 
making comic pictures and caricatures. WNa- 
ture, in every form, had peculiar charms for 
him. Botany was a science in which he took 
great delight; and he was perfectly familiar 
with every locality in the neighborhood of 
New Haven. He knew where to find the 
earliest spring and the latest autumn flowers; 
and his pleasantest recreations were the long 
walks to gather them. 

His religious life was, from the first, a quiet 
and steady growth. His conversion itself was 
characteristic of his own turn of mind. His 
family attended the College-street church, 
then under the charge of Rev. Mr. Strong. 
The winter of 1854-55 was a time of deep in- 
terest in that church. James attended some 
of the evening meetings. At the close of one 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. II 


those meetings, Deacon Amos Townsend in- 
vited any of the young people who were will- 
ing, to come to his house the next evening for 
conversation. James attended the meeting. 
Deacon Townsend made some remarks about 
the kindness of our heavenly Father in giving 
us all the blessings we have, and of His great 
sacrifice in giving His Son to die for us all, 
and closed with the inquiry, ‘‘ What have you 
ever done for Him?” The family had retired 
for the night when he got home, and he went 
to his room without speaking. Next morning 
he appeared as usual at breakfast. When left 
alone with his mother, after breakfast, she said 
to him, “‘ James, don’t you want to be a Chris- 
fiane ~ said he, “ Ma, 1 think I am a Chris- 
tian. Last night, Mr. Townsend spoke to us 
about our ingratitude to God for all His kind- . 
ness to us, and asked us what we had ever 
done to please Him. I thought to myself, I 
have never done anything to please Him. I 
will begin now and do all I can. It is no 
more than right, after all He has done for 
me.” He never seemed to doubt the reality 
of this change. 


12 MEMORIAL OF THE 


In his temperament he was sensitive, and 
often stirred to anger; but very affectionate 
to friends, and very careful of their feelings. 
“Be patient,’ and, “Govern your temper,” 
were injunctions he often heard, and by which 
he shaped his life. | 

So that when he was ready to enter college, 
he was fitted, not only in mind, but also in 
character ; and the three things that’ distin- 
guished him at this time, were reason, con- 
science, and love. 


2. HIS COLLEGE LIFE. 


He now adopted a different plan of study 
from that which gained for him the valedic- 
tory of the grammar school. There he stud- 
ied with an eye to rank; here his main en- 
deavor was for information. “He studied 
less from motives of ambition, than from the 
wish to attain the power of using his talents 
to advantage.” He deemed it a shame fora 
young man to bea graduate and know noth- 
ing but the regular studies; he determined to 
inform himself outside of his lessons, and at 





KEV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 13 


the same time to know enough of the course 
to get the full benefit of it. Accordingly he 
made science as primary as his text-books; he 
could do a poor thing in recitations some- 
times, and then comfort himself with the 
thought, that if he had “ fizzled” his Greek, 
he nevertheless had grasped the great idea 
that all force is one; and while he was letting 
himself settle below the first rank of scholar- 
ship, he was losing nothing that he could not 
hereafter recover, and was delighting in such 
works as Tyndall's “Feat a Mode of Motion,” 
and opening his mind to one of the great dis- 
coveries of the present century—the mutual 
relation and conservation of forces. If he fell - 
below the Oration rank, he was still main- 
taining a better scholarship than two-thirds 
of his class, besides mastering Botany, and 
thoughtfully reading the advanced thinkers 
of England, of whom Herbert Spencer was 
his favorite. 

With such a broad course as this laid out, 
it would seem as though there would be little 
time left for anything else. Yet, living at 
home, he was always subject to the home- 


EA Cy. MEMORIAL OF THE 


calls, and always willing to do work of any 
kind, from keeping books in his father’s store 
to running on errands. To be sure, he had 
no time to devote to the mere formation of 
friendships with the class ; and it is generally 
granted, that, with few exceptions, they knew 
him but little outside of the recitation room ; 
his time was valuable; he felt it so; and if he 
ever wasted it, it was when he was clear dis- 
couraged at the vast field of knowledge he 
wanted to explore and could not; or else when 
he had thought, and thought, on the mystery 
of life and of God, and felt his faith shaken, 
though not broken. Then he was sad; then 
he went to the woods; he walked over every 
hill, and crossed every brook for miles around 
the city, not merely to study Botany and Geol- 
ogy, but to ponder alone upon the insolvable 
things of existence. They only knew his 
thoughts at these times who knew his inner 
life. Says aclassmate,* ‘I have reason to be- 
lieve, that while in college, the dark problems 
of existence, the mysteries of Providence, and 
the greater mystery of Godliness, were occu- 


* Rev. James Hoyt, Sherman, Conn. 





KEV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 15 


pying his attention and perplexing his mind; 
and this constant effort to see the unseen, and 
to know the unknown, doubtless gave to his 
manner much of that coldness, and to his face 
much of that sternness which for a long time 
he seemed to me to have.” 

But if he had doubts, he had faith too; he 
believed in prayer, not because he had been so 
educated, nor because he was not acquainted 
with the attacks that ever have been made 
upon the doctrine, but because he felt that 
there was such a thing as answerable prayer ; 
it he wanted to hear a valuable lecture, he 
could pray that God would so plan it that he 
might be relieved from store duties, and could 
take the relief as a direct answer to his prayer. 
Such an experience in prayer he never pa- 
raded at all; he told it only to his dearest 
riends; and then, not to show his own heart 
so much as to give encouragement to another. 
Attending to so many other things, he did 
not neglect the prayer-meeting; but he al- 
ways enlivened it by his earnestness and fer- 
vor, which gave evidence of his devotion to 
Christ. 














16 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Now to the majority of his class this was 
not Tyler at all. To them he was “a slender 
boy, refined and delicate in his face;” “thor- 
oughly honest in his studies, aiming at learn- 
ing rather than standing ;” “a careful observy- 
er, and a lover of truth for its own sake.” 
His classmates regarded him as an original 
thinker; and, contrary to the rule, his com- 
positions always afforded the hearers a pleas- 
ure. Everybody knows how tiresome it is 
to sit in a recitation-room and listen to essays 
too often written merely to satisfy a college 
demand. Yet, when Tyler arose to read his, 
everybody knew that he had neither “skin- 
ned” it, nor carelessly put it together to es- 
cape the penalty of failure. A classmate* 
tells the result: “I remember how we used 7 
to take our seats in the division-room witha 
martyr-like air, expecting to be bored, but 
resolved to endure the affliction stoically, 
while the crude thoughts of young aspirants 
after fame, or more likely the thoughts of 
of others half-digested and only half compre- 
hended, found inelegant expression; some of 


* Rev. Jno. W. Teal, Cornwall Landing, N. Y. 





REV. YAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 17 


those who were supposed to form the audi- 
ence were in a semi-somnolent state, others 
peeped into books or papers that had been 
smuggled in. But when Tyler rose to read, 
the sleepy ones roused themselves, and the 
surreptitious reading ceased. He was sure to 
give us something enjoyable, something worth 
having; his sentences were forceful, humor- 
ous, inspiring. The Division officer, whether 
professor or tutor, listened with evident in- 
terest. The room resounded with the fre- 
quent applause. Yet those essays, so fresh in 
thought, and so attractive in style, were, for 
the most part, prepared in haste, at odd mo- 
ments, when he could be spared from other 
duties.”’ 

That he was an able writer at this time, and 
that his circumstances alone prevented his 
getting a wider collegiate fame, is shown by 
the fact that a prize essay of his gained this 
statement from the judges: “Had you only 
handed it in fifteen minutes earlier, you would 
have taken a prize.” He had used all the 
time he could command, and had written a 


large part of the night previous to handing it 
2% 








18 MEMORIAL OF THE 


in; then he ran all the way to his officer’s 
room, hoping to be in season; and when he 
found out how close he had been to a prize, 
though feeling badly over his failure, yet he 
comforted himself, and threw off his disap- 
pointment by saying, “ Well, I came within 
fifteen minutes of a prize, any way.” 

He was graduated in 1864. How he fin- 
ished this part of his life may be gathered 
both from the willing testimony of his class 
and of the Faculty. 

One* of the many letters speaks thas of 
him: “ He was a delightful companion, fond 
of enjoyment, and at times running over with 
honest boyishness and humor. College life, 
which so often leaves regretful pages in many 
characters, made no spots on his. Vices 
seemed to fall from him as from one that was 
armor-proof. Kindly and winning in his 
manners, honest in his scholarship, and earn- 
est in devotion to duty, he bore with him, as 
we separated, the respect of all.” 


* Mr. Wm. McAfee, Vice-Prin., Claverack Col- 
lege, NiCY, 





AEVe JAMES PRATNE RDS T VLER. 19 


President Porter, of Yale College, also 
writes of him: 


“Of the many pupils whom I have instructed, 
there have been but few in whom I have had greater 
satisfaction, than I had in the late Rev. James B. 
Tyler. He first attracted my attention by the uni- 
form thoroughness with which he prepared his les- 
sons, and the neatness and completeness of his 
recitations. It was not long before I discovered 
that his interest in all questions of intellectual and 
moral philosophy was earnest and profound, and 
that he could not rest satisfied till he had discussed 
every such question in the most thorough manner. 
He was independent in his judgments, and acute in 
his analyses, and original in his methods of approach- 
ing a subject. He was singularly neat and concise 
in his statements. Everything which he thought 
and said bore the stamp of ingenuity, acuteness, and 
originality. His simplicity and modesty were as 
striking as his philosophical ability. His persever- 
ance was no less interesting. His love of the truth, 
and his satisfaction in this truth when he had found 
it, were strikingly contrasted with the habits of 
many men, especially of many young men of decided 
speculative genius. His modesty and self-deprecia- 
tion were almost oppressive. 

“ After instructing him in the studies of the Seniae 
year in the Academical Department, I had the great 
satisfaction of having him as a pupil in Natural 


20 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Theology and the philosophical and ethical studies 
introductory to Biblical Theology. The greater in- 
terests of these studies, and the more favorable 
opportunity for prosecuting them thoroughly, served 
to develop more strikingly all those characteristics 
which had already attracted my attention. The 
very familiar intercourse into which I was brought 
with him, in the freest interchange of inquiry and 
discussion, greatly deepened my interest in his mind, 
and heightened my admiration and love for his 
’ character. When he died, I mourned for him, not 
only as a beloved pupil, but as a personal friend. I 
could not but be sad at the disappointment of so 
much promise, and sympathized with the family and 
friends who were called to part with one who had 
become so much the object of their pride and 
love.” 


3. AS A TEACHER. 


Immediately after graduation, he took charge 
of the Academy in Easton, Ct. He remained 
there a year; and in the Fall of 1865, he went 
to Millbury, Mass., as Principal of the High 
School. There he stayed three years and a 
term. 

He endeavored to excite in his pupils habits 
of labor, patient investigation, and independ- 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. BA | 


ence; the mere getting of a lesson he did not 
value nearly so much as the knowing something 
about it. But his work did not end with the 
intellect ; he taught them to value Duty as the 
height of all virtues; he cared for the best 
parts of his pupils—their souls—none the less 
than for their minds. 

What Mr. Tyler thought of Duty, is further 
shown in a little conversation he had with a 
class-mate, towards the close of the Seminary 
Course : 

“ Now, that [am a pastor,” said the mate, 
“ what shall I teach my people ?”’ 

“Teach them Duty,’ was the instant and 
emphatic reply; “if you can do that, you will 
have the best of success.” 

And after he left his school, in the press of 
the Seminary duties, he carried on by corres- 
pondence the work he had begun. The hap- 
py result was that many of his pupils ascribe 
to him their choice of the Christian life. 

The Pastor of the Millbury Congregational 
Church speaks of this part of his life thus: 


“On first acquaintance, I was impressed that he 


22 MEMORIAL OF THE 


possessed an intellect of a very high order, and my 
subsequent acquaintance with him but confirmed 
and deepened my first impression. Fond of in- 
vestigation, his intelligence was keen, penetrating, 
analytical; in its methods following the Baconian 
Philosophy; in its application severe, patient, per- 
severing; pushing it, in all its ramifications, into the 
tributaries of a well-rounded system. 

: “Nature and Revelation he regarded 
as two distinct parts of the oze Revelation of God,— 
God revealed in Nature and in Christ,—and felt that 
Science and Theology must harmonize when the two 
parts of the One Book shall be rightly read. Yet, 
when I first knew him, it would have been easy for a 
dogmatic Christianity to drive him into scepticism. 
Science, so far as demonstrated, he must accept; 
narrow and bigoted interpretations of Scripture he © 
could not brook. 

“While he was progressive—almost bold—in in- 
vestigation, he was evidently built on the maxim, 
‘In medio tutissimus. A sham he could not bide, 
and nothing seemed to afford him more satisfaction 
than to kick and explode a humbug. 

“As a teacher, Mr. Tyler was sharp, thorough, 
stimulating to accurate scholarship and clear con- 
ception, rather than to polish and finical grace. A 
laggard he could not tolerate, while indifference and 
lawlessness excited his ire to a pitch of healthy fric- 
tion on the part of the pupil. For the intellectual 
and moral development of his scholars he worked 





REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 23 


hard; and though at times severe, he was kind, and 
loved his pupils most tenderly. 

“As a man, Mr. Tyler won the esteem of the com- 
munity, being simple in manner, elevated in thought, 
upright, and self-sacrificing. 

“As a Christian, he was humble, earnest, devoted, 
daily consecrating his faculties to the service of the 
Lord, and working to the extent of his strength and 
opportunities in the prayer-meeting, in the Sabbath- 
school, and in private, to serve the Master and save 
souls. 

“And when his labors as teacher ceased, his 
zeal for the conversion of his pupils seemed to in- 
crease; and by correspondence he sought, not only 
their continued esteem, but their spiritual well- 
being. The last time he visited Millbury, in the 
March before his decease, he expressed deep solici- 
tude for those of his former pupils who had not yet 
given their hearts to Christ. He also expressed 
much interest in, and was at pains to call upon, the 
- poor and less fortunate of his former pupils, sharply 
rebuking that factitious distinction which erects an 
unchristian barrier between the so-called lower and 
higher orders of society. 

beeeetis pastor, i-toved him. . .. . And the 
way of the Cross up to the Gate of Heaven seems 
more beautiful and perspicuous to my feet, now that 
he has passed through.” 











24 MEMORIAL OF THE 


4. IN THE SEMINARY. 


Scattered from Kansas to Japan, there are 
a dozen young ministers who will not soon 
forget Tyler. He came among us after our 
class was well started, and we well acquainted 
with each other. The first impressicns of 
him were hardly favorable; for his face, to a 
stranger, always had a half-cross look, his 
salutations were sharp and not very win- 
ning, and his recitations were slow and labored, 
though accurate. 

But it did not take long for us to discover 
that there was nothing cross in him, that 
he had a large, warm heart, and that he was 
an excellent scholar. The first time he won > 
any especial notice, was in the Rhetorical 
Exercise, on the question, ‘“ What is the posi- 
tion of the Moral Law as given by Moses, 
under Christianity ?”’ 

He boldly took the ground that it was done 
away with; “thrown overboard;” and the 
effective speech he made then, was the seed 
of a course of five sermons on Galatians, in 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 25 


which he set forth, with all the nervous 
energy of his last few months on earth, 
what seemed to be the pet thought of his 
life. 

He loved theWednesday afternoon exercise ; 
whatever question was posted, he was always 
prepared to speak upon it, and always left the 
impression of sincerity and maturity upon his 
hearers. The room was full one day, when he 
spoke on Eternal Punishment; we easily re- 
call how he opened by insisting on the worth- 
lessness of @ priori arguments here, and how 
he closed by declaring that the only way of 
settling the question was by exegesis—“ Find 
out whether Jesus said the wicked shall be 
punished eternally; if He sazd so, then it zs 
SU. 

On another occasion ‘“ The Book of Jonah” 
was the topic. ~The appointed speakers had 
dwelt mainly on the truthfulness of the story, 
and the probabilities of the miracle ; but when 
volunteers were called for, Tyler arose, and 
gave an entirely different turn to the talk;— 
‘To me the book of Jonah is worthless in its 
miracle; but it is unspeakably dear to me, in 





26 MEMORIAL OF THE 


that it is a forerunner of the divine message of 
the New Testament.” 

At other times [though seldom] he threw 
aside his seriousness, and brought down the. 
house with a storm of applause at his wit. — 

But the Rhetorical was not enough for him: 
he always loved discussion, and courted criti- 
cism: and after he had been in the class long 
enough for us to find out his value, he propos- 
ed a weekly class-meeting for the reading of 
essays, and for the consideration of questions 
that naturally came up in course of study. 
As Tyler was the founder of this meeting, so 
he was the life of it; and the hour we gave 
up was one of the pleasantest we had in the 
Seminary. Here we could debate freely and 
with no fear of Professorial criticism: here 
we had our pet names: Tyler was “The Pe- 
” a large-framed Westerner was “ The 
Demiurge ;” a Methodist was “ The Armin- 
ian ;”’ our thinnest classmate was ‘ The Sha- 
dow ;” another was “The Pope: 


lagian ; 


” 


here we 
told our stories, and compared notes after 
preaching: and when the time came to hold 
our last meeting, before going out into the 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 27 


world, it was hard to part. To leave a life of 
no especial responsibility, and to say as only 
classmates can to each other, “ God bless you, 
Old Fellow, Good-Bye,” to exchange such a 
life for responsibilities under which strong 
men have sunk—under which Tyler did sink— 
and to have to bear the load with no daily 
greetings from long-tried companions, we 
felt that that was hard. 

The influence of this class meeting was not 
lost on the Seminary; it was patterned after 
by succeeding classes, and exists now as one 
of the fruits of Tyler's course. 

The close friendships we formed, Tyler felt 
that they should not be suffered to fall through : 
nor should they be left to chance correspon- 
dence, which so often is given up in the press 
of pastoral labors. So he suggested that each 
should write an annual letter to “ My Dear 
Class-mates,”’ which should pass from one to 
another, thus keeping each in intimacy with 
the rest: the suggestion was adopted, and his 
Encyclical was the first to go the rounds.* 


* It is to be regretted that this Encyclical is not 
at hand for publication; “it is Tyler all over.” It 


28 MEMORIAL OF THE 


He was a keen lover of Exegesis. When 
he found that the Seminary encouraged a 
scientific study of the Scriptures, he was won- 
derfully pleased: standing on the steps of the 
old Seminary at the close of the first year, he 
remarked, that when he came to the Semin- 
ary, he feared he never could be a minister ; 
he actually refused to sign his name to the 
regular paper of enrolment: but when he 
saw that he was “called to liberty,” and that 
he could freely mention doubts, and that he 
could take the facts of sczence just as though 
no Bible existed, then was the brightest time 
he ever had in the Seminary. He loved his 
Bible then as he never had before: he could 
not get enough of it: not content with the 
regular lectures in Exegesis, which he always 
studied and rewrote, he took other parts of 
the Bible: he read most thoroughly in the 
original two books of the Old Testament,— 
Nehemiah and The Song of Solomon, and 
several Psalms: he took parts of the New 


would complete Dr. Daggett’s paper of the “ Preacher 
and Pastor,” by giving us his own account of the 
work. 














REV. AMES BRAINERD TYLER. 29 


Testament, and made Winer and Meyer throw 
every possible light on them. Such was his 
love for Exegesis that it amounted to almost 
a passion. He formed a new society for the 
sole purpose of Exegetical studies, and de- 
clared that he should feel content to leave the 
Seminary if he could see that society so firm- 
ly established as to perpetuate itself; but he 
was too far in advance of others; he failed to 
inspire the rest with his enthusiasm, and the 
society died. 

The child-like character of Tyler ought not 
to be passed over. He knew that he was 
looked up to, yet he would receive sugges- 
tions and criticisms from any body in the kind- 
est spirit. He never closed his eyes to his 
own faults; a classmate once hinted at his half 
cross look and tone when he was debating. 
He replied, “ I’m real glad you told me; I’ve 
suspected it before, but I don’t believe it is 
in my heart.” Nor did any one who knew 
him: 

So he went through the Seminary. While 
showing the Scholar, he did not conceal the 
Christian. While familiarizing himself with 


30 ‘ MEMORIAL OF THE 


every truth of science, he was as humble as a — 
child. His prayers—well, after you knew 
him, you knew that every word came from 
the heart. Ever ready to speak for Christ, 
yet he never did it blunderingly. He was a 
silent teacher of duty—his light shone, not be- 
cause he was trying to parade it, but because 
he could not help it. 

When the end of our course drew near, the 
Faculty wished him to prepare, for Com- 
mencement, his views of the Relation of Sci- 
ence to Christianity. He was well fitted for 
the: work; but he had labored so hard through 
his course, both summers and winters, that he 
was in no condition for extras: he knew every 
hypothesis of the scientists, and was wonder- 
fully familiar with even the illustrations by 
which scientific men had strengthened their 
positions: yet in his tiredness, he lay upon his 
lounge and dreaded to touch the paper. 

Rousing himself at last, in three or four 
days he had his views drawn up and commit- 
ted ; and when he delivered it in the College- 
Street church as a closing essay, the applause 
of the audience, and the hearty congratula- 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER, 31 


tions of scientific and scholarly men showed 
that he was regarded outside, just as we in- 
side looked upon him,—as a success.* 

Then came the reaction; it would have 
been bad enough of itself, but right upon that 
came asad accident. As he was passing the 
Marquand Chapel, which was then being com- 
pleted, a large block fell from the scaffolding 
upon his head: it came with such force as to 
crush through his stiff hat, and gashed his 
head, just over the temple, in an ugly manner. 
Stunned for a moment, he recovered suffic- 
iently to get to his room, where he bathed and 
dressed the wound; then he endeavored to 
conceal it; he even made fun of it; but it at 
last forced from him the confession that he 
had made up his mind not to be disappointed 
if he never saw a well day again; henceforth 
it was to be pain on awaking, and pain in 
working. How much that blow had to do 
with his death, no one can tell; that it hur- 
ried it, and perhaps remotely caused it, no 
one will deny, who has seen him, when in his 


* His production was printed in the “ New Eng- 
lander,” and it is reprinted in Appendix, C. 


32 MEMORIAL OF THE 


pulpit, dip his finger into a glass of water to 
bathe that spot; or, who knows how, in his sick- 
ness, he constantly wanted the old wound rub- 
bed or wet. 

Thus disabled, he went to New Hampshire 
to get the more bracing air, and to rest—not 
by ceasing to work, but by a change of work. 

As in college both his class and instructors 
honored him, so in the Seminary his associ- 
ates and teachers have sent their emphatic 
statements. | 

The class-feeling is well represented in these 
sentences :* 

“Possessed of rare and marked abilities, 
thorough culture, varied and extensive know- 
ledge, we ever looked upon him with pride 
as the most gifted and scholarly member of 
our class ; we fondly dreamed that he would 
soon step into one of those highest places 
which are occupied only by choicest gifts. 

‘““T see him as vividly as though he stood be- 
fore me, with his bright keen eye, a slight, 
though firm and erect figure, cool, dignified, 
self-possessed, every inch the scholar and gen- 


* Rev. E. P. Herrick, Middle Haddam, Conn. 





: 
: 
: 
| 
: 





KEV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 33 


tleman. I think of him as invariably patient, 
kind, considerate, ever ready to answer the 
many questions with which he was plied by 
those who so frequently consulted him. His 
room was the resort of those seeking counsel, 
sympathy, direction; his advice was highly 
prized by all; we had the utmost confidence 
in his decisions and superior judgment. 

“Fle became unconsciously the centre of at- 
traction wherever he was; never forcing him- 
self upon men’s notice, they yet felt his power ; 


when he spoke, there was an unmistakable ac- 


knowledgment of his superior gifts; we list- 
ened as though unwilling to lose one of those 
strikingly original sentences which fell short, 
pointed, and crisp from his lips. * * * * 

“Those long years of patient toil, unwearied 
application, and great acquisition, are not 
wasted years: the store of knowledge which 
he gathered is not spilled, now that the gold- 
en bowl is broken.” 

Another letter finishes this section : 


“Rev. J. H. De Forest: 


“ Dear Sir,—I had no acquaintance with Mr. Tyler 


3 


34 MEMORIAL OF THE 


till I met him in the lecture-room, at the beginning 
of the course of instruction in Revealed Theology. 
But when I began to know him, I soon found my- 
self charmed with his modesty and deference as a 
learner, his perspicacity in apprehending the de- 
finitions and distinctions of theological specula- 
tion, his independence as a thinker, and the reverent 
earnestness which expressed itself in his looks and 
tones, while the high themes of Christian doctrine were 
discussed, as you remember, between the teacher 
and the class, in almost colloquial freedom. Thence- 
forward, to the end of his course in the Divinity 
School, and to the end of his brief work in the pas- 
toral office, he grew continually in my regard and 
affection. Nor can I now remember, without a pang, 
how soon and suddenly his work for Christ, in this 
life, was ended. 


“While he was with us here, he seemed to me a 
pattern student; so diligent was he, so punctual in 
every duty of our collegiate life, so eager in the 
pursuit of knowledge, so exact in logic, so work- 
manlike in the details and finish of every perfor- 
mance, so careful to know the truth, and so earnest 
in his consecration of all knowledge and culture to 
the service of Christ. I cannot but think how help- 
ful he must have been to the spiritual life, as well as 
to the intellectual progress of his associates in study. 
Of course, you knew him, in that respect, much 
better than I could know him. 


“What he was asa son and a brother, I never knew 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 35 


till since his death; nor can it be known, save as I 
learned it, sitting down beside his mother in her 
grief, and hearing from her lips the story of his 
birth in her tropical home, at a missionary station— 
of his bright and dutiful childhood—of his youth- 
ful aspirations and struggles—of his loving ef- 
forts and sacrifices for those whose love responded 
in efforts and sacrifices for him—and of the joy and 
glory which his success in study, and the promise 
of his usefulness in life, brought into their home. It 
is an eminent qualification for a pastor, or for any 
minister of the gospel, to have been such a son and 
such a brother as he was,—endowed with such ca- 
pacity of affection, and trained with such discipline 
of filial and fraternal love into habits of unselfish- 
ness. I cannot doubt that, had he been spared to 
the church which has been bereaved by his early 
death, this element in his character would have con- 
tributed largely to the efficacy of his ministry. The 
pastor, full of affectionate sympathies, would have 
loved everybody in the parish, and everybody in the 
parish would have loved the pastor. 

“May God accept and bless the service you have 
undertaken in commemoration of a friend so dear 
to you, and to all who knew him. 

“ Yours truly, 


“ LEONARD BACON, 


“DIVINITY HALL, YALE CoLLEGE, Dec. 7, 1872.” 


36 MEMORIAL OF THE 


5. VACATIONS. 


We must now go back a little, and briefly 
fill up the vacations in his Seminary life. It 
is the custom for the junior students to spend 
the four months’ vacation in the Home Mission 
Service, in some of the Eastern States. His 
commission in 1869 was for Montgomery Cen- 
tre, Vt. Hewent there in good spirits, and 
worked hard; did what junior students are 
expected to do, yet never ought to do,—wrote 
one sermon a week, and delivered an extem- 
pore, besides doing the pastoral duties. Care- 
ful in writing, he made harder work than was 
necessary. His recreations were tramping 
over the mountains, enjoying the scenery, and 
botanizing. His own words describe his place, 
his work, and enjoyments: 


“* MONTGOMERY CENTRE, Yune 19th, 1869. 


‘“‘T don’t think this is going to be much of a 
vacation. I’ve been as hard. at work this week 
as if at Yale. Words seem to come hard. I guess 
I have not what they call here delivering grace. 
The scenery here is quite fine, where stumps 
are out of the way; but it is really remarkable 








REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. aa 


how a foreground of half-charred, half-rotten stumps 
will destroy the charm of a landscape; and such 
a foreground can be had almost anywhere about 
here. I board about a mile from the church and 
village, and perhaps 350 feet higher. By going as 
much further and higher, you come to the foot of 
Jay Peak, which rises above that place, I should 
think 800 feet more. 


“From our house you can see a good many clouds 
below the mountain-top. Sometimes they merely 
lower down in a thick sheet, with dim fringed edges, 
and obscure the hills, and then they are hardly more 
interesting than a New Haven fog. But when they 
are distinct, they are very beautiful. Generally they 
move slowly, as we have not had much wind. It is 
very interesting to see how lazily they crawl about 
over a mountain’s side. Sometimes they spin them- 
selves out like a worm uncoiling, and drag themselves 
up to and over the top; and sometimes, especially 
towards night, they seem to /ounge about, in the 
most tired and shiftless way, rolling down into the 
hollows, and lying there helpless, or straddling a 
ridge, and, as it were, going to sleep in the saddle, 
and falling off.. The smoke from burning log-heaps 
behaves much in the same way, but doesn’t often 
rise high. Commonly, unless the wind is strong 
enough to scatter it and make it disappear, it 
stretches slowly along into a pale bluish, horizontal 
layer, looking as if you had drawn a brush of thin 
whitewash a mile or two across the landscape. 


38 MEMORIAL OF THE 


‘““T went into the woodsg@about twenty rods across 
the road, the other day, and found four new 
plants the first thing, and have found some others 
Sinice, 


“ MONTGOMERY CENTRE, Fuly 19th, 1869. 


‘‘ Sermonizing takes lots of time. Don’t have hardly 
any for study outside of weekly duties, or any- 
thing else. Did take a pleasure trip to Jay Moun- 
tain, July 5th. On 4th, preached a politicalish ser- 
mon. Written sermons are slow in making, but 
seem to be hked by a few best people. Extem- 
pore takes less time, don’t do me so much good, 
but seem to be swallowed well. Thats just what 
provokes me—sermons swallowed, not digested 
afterward.” 


Thinking that he would like the missionary 
work again, and hoping it would be lighter 
than before, at the close of the second year in 
the Seminary, he applied for a commission in 
Maine, and was assigned to Cherryfield. His 
popularity there is shown by the beautiful 
present he brought away, and by the desire 
his friends there have manifested to secure 
the publication of some of his sermons. A few 








REV. ¥AMES BRAINERD TYLER. 30 


extracts from his letters home best tell the 
story :— 


“CHERRYFIELD, Fume 27th, 1870. 


“TI have had pretty good luck botanizing, having 
found eight or ten new species. The ladies are start- 
ing a botany class (of their own accord) to recite to 
me. May be there’ll be a dozen. 

“There are high rocky hills a few miles back, some 
of which give a fine outlook; and ten miles off are the 
Tunk Mountains, really a good-looking chain and 
still further “Old Hunchback,” the highest in this 
region. 

“There is a minister who alternates between this 
church and the one at Millbridge; but while I am 
here he confines himself to Millbridge, and lets me 
have this to myself. ~The Congregational church has 
only fourteen members, one absent, three males. 
They meet with the Methodists.” 


“ CHERRYFIELD, ely 15th, 1870, 


“No special religious news—interest as usual, only, 
to judge (which is precarious) by apparent emotion 
in the audience, the last two Sundays’ preaching 
has hit better than most of it. 

“T attended my first funeral last Sunday, after two 
sermons, at short notice, with a bad headache, and 
two miles to walk in the hot sun. ButI got along tol- 


A086 MEMORIAL OF THE 


erably, and I am glad I went, for the poor people 
who had lost their little girl seemed to get some 
little comfort.” 


‘“‘ CHERRYFIELD, Aug. 7th, 1870. 


“Yesterday I preached to the children. I hada 
larger audience than ever before in this place—170. 
I am pretty tired to-day, and shall be busy all the 
week, (for I have got to go to writing sermons again), 
and so you won’t get much of a letter this time. 

“Tt seems my botany class thought I was going to 
charge a regular tuition, of which I had no idea. 
They ve found I won’t, and it has leaked out that 
they are trying to find out what would suit me for a 
present. I dqn’t want any, but perhaps they would 
feel better to give one. But I guess I shall tell 
them not to, and that I won't take any. 


After he thought it had all blown over, 
and the time of his departure had nearly come, 
a fine illustrated edition of Shakespeare was 
left at the door for him. 

Towards the close of the third Seminary 
year, after declining several larger churches, 
because he felt that he could not do what 
would be expected of him, he accepted a call 
to Groton, Ct. But feeling the weariness that 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 4 


has been mentioned, he declined being ordain- 
ed until the fall; he hoped that he could recruit 
in some Home Mission field, where he could 
use in part the work of preceding summers, 
and at the same time make better preparation 
to enter his chosen place. So he accepted a 
commission for Plainfield, N. H.; there, in 
company with one of his sisters, doubtless 
he would have gained rest and strength, had 
it not been for the painful accident that had 
weakened and halfisickened him. He wrote 
home that he was well, while his words cor- 
responded only to his wishes. 

From Plainfield there is a splendid view of 
Mount Ascutney, with the pretty village that 
lies at its base: the mountain is over 3,000 
feet high; and Tyler living ten miles from it, 
loved to sketch it, and to take a day in going 
to its top. 

He writes home in his terse style :— 


“ PLAINFIELD, fune 15¢h, 1871. 


“Church members over twenty. About fifty 
places to call, scattered over six square miles, Peo- 
ple nearly all oldish. I’m well, with plenty to do. 

x ; . 


3 


42 MEMORIAL OF THE 


The country is beautiful. Here is a sketch of ‘Old 
Cutney,’ (Ascutney) that I took this afternoon.” 


He spent much time in planning for the 
betterment of that church; he thought that 
if they and the Baptists would give and sup- 
port one minister, it would be better for both 
churches: he said that if he were not already 
engaged at Groton, he would stay in Plainfield 
a year or more, and try to do something to 
unite the people in one church, with sucha 
creed, baptism, and communion, that no Chris- 
tian should be shut out. 

The result of his summer’s work was this :— 
he came back about as tired as he went up: 
his head caused him much pain. Thus un- 
fitted for work, he went to Groton for ordina.. 
tion. It remains now to consider him— 


6. AS A MINISTER. 


Mr. Tyler made large and unnecessary pre- 
paration for his examination. His written 
Statements were full, but guarded. On all 
great points he was in perfect harmony with 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 43 


the teachings of the Church; but there were 
some lesser points on which he did not wish 
to be publicly questioned; not that he feared 
to say what he thought, but because he feared 
that, if he deviated from a narrow and un- 
scholarly rut, he would awaken suspicion, and 
so weaken confidence and prevent the good 
he otherwise might do. 

Hence, in his answers he was strong and 
confident wherever he could be, and careful 
to keep attention away from anything on 
which there might be disagreement. 

Moreover, he exceedingly disliked to arouse 
great expectations among his people; in this 
he was too careful; he wanted no enthusiasm, 
lest it should grow cool; and the way he 
passed his examination and began his ministry 
comes out in the following letter: | 


“GROTON, October 7, 1871. 





“ DEAR 
you about it. 
“ Examination was about middling, lasting perhaps 
forty minutes. Chief points quarreled over were 
inspiration (any mistakes in the Bible?) and ézfant 
baptism. It took a good while to make myself un- 


at comply with your request to tell 





44 MEMORIAL OF THE 


derstood on the last point, and I hear that one of 
the examiners is afraid I may become a Baptist. 
Think there’s much danger? They showed no dis- 
position to rub me very hard, but Dr. Field asked a | 
good many questions. In the main I tried to put 
things very straight, and unmistakably. Iwas pretty 
sure they would think I was an Arminian; but one 
-of them asked, ‘ How would you answer an Arminian 
who said [something that I do not agree to in the 
Arminian doctrine]?’ I answered that straightway 
and vehemently, so that they took it for granted that 
I was a sound Calvinist all pate they ‘threw 
themselves off the scent. 

‘The exercises in the afternoon were all good, 
but none extraordinary—just as I would have it. 
If there’s anything I dread it is great expectations, 
or a brilliant starting where it can’t be carried 
through so. House full. 

‘Last Sunday I disappointed everybody by preach- 
ing the style of sermon they didn’t expect. The 
audience was about two hundred and fifty, looking 
for me to lay out my plans and tell what I was going 
to do. So I hear. I preathed on the Scriptures 
being the Rod of God for us, like Moses’ rod at 
Rephidim; and that the preacher might hold it up 
in vain if the people didn’t fight; and that the 
preacher couldn’t hold it up persistently if some- 
body didn’t hold up his hands. 

“To-morrow I expect the novel sensation of 
preaching a new sermon. I have hit on a new plan, 
which I think will work well, though I have n’t tried 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 45 


it but once yet. It is, before writing a sermon to 
make out a deuble plan of it—the one logical, show- 
ing the connection of thought; the other rhetorical, 
showing what sort of an impression is to be attempt- 
ed on the people’s feelings. I think that will ensure 
the logic’s being rhetorical, and the rhetoric’s being 
logical, and prevent dryness (logic alone) on the 
one hand, and splurge (rhetoric alone) on the other. 
Moreover, it will help one to make the leading of 
the people’s feelings more successful, because in his 
rhetorical plan he will see to it that feelings are ad- 
dressed in a natural and practicable order, and not 
first one emotion aroused, and then another at ran- 
dom, till it becomes impossible to arouse any. I 
inclose my first plan of this sort, not as a model, but 
to help explain what I mean.* 

“My room is on the south-west corner of a building 
nearly opposite Mr. Erasmus Avery’s. Fine water 
view, up and down and across. Row-boats when- 
ever I wish. Haven't tried it yet. Large sitting- 
room, and very small bedroom. 

“I don’t know why I should not likeGroton. The 
people show interest, but no great enthusiasm—their 
style, I guess; and just what I like. 

“My regards to Mrs. . Hope neither of you 
have had any more shakes. My table has them— 
~ chronic. . 





“ Yours heartily, 


“Jas. B. TYLER.” 


* See Appendix B.’ 


46 MEMORIAL OF THE 


After his class-mates had gotten into their 
work, they missed Tyler; they had been used 
to carrying their questions to him and getting 
his solution of them. And now, with more 
important questions weekly coming to the 
surface, they needed him more than ever. 
Those who were near enough went to see 
him whenever they could, but letters gener- 
ally had to take the place of those long walks 
and talks in New Haven. 

Here is his reply to one: 


“GROTON, Dec. 1, 1871. 





* Dear :—Thanks for both your letters. Yes- 
terday a Thanksgiving sermon. I can’t get up 
another this week, so I shall use up my last old one 
next Sunday. 

“How I wish I could do your fashion !—but it 
would be downright cheeky for me to attempt it. 
I’m slowly getting acquainted here. There appears 
to be some “latent” interest. We shall pray for 
each other, and each other’s work. 

“More particulars wanted about Drake. When, 
where, to whom? Anything further about Foster? 
Has my Encyclical reached you yet? Just like 
the Middle Haddam Pope to put it in his pocket for 
a month or two. 

“I’ve had but one exchange yet; and, counting in 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. ny | 


yesterday’s, I have averaged just one new sermon a 
week since coming here. 

“You say your comparatively unpremeditated ef- 
forts work the best. I don’t believe it. Zz cases they 
do, no doubt; but if it is a general rule that the more 
you think the poorer is your success, there is some- 
thing the matter with your mind that unfits you to 
be a minister. Which sounds ugly—but it isn’t. 

“You have given me a big job in answering ques- 
tions. 

““ How explain to the average mind that Christ 
died for me?’ By God’s omniscience, only not 
put ina theological form, and let big words be avoid- 
ed. If he died for all, he died for everybody; and 
you are one of them. ‘The objection, when it is not 
-a wilful one (as it generally is, I guess), is from the 
fact, that a man can do something for a mass of peo- 
ple, when he knows and cares little for any individu- 
al in it; but that is because of man’s finite ability to 
hold a great number of particulars in his mind—so 
he lumps them into one general pile, and acts for 
the pele. Notso God. Hairs are numbered. 

‘ But if it means that Christ died for me in dstinc- 
tion from others,—he didn’t. It was for me distinctly 
among others. A proud heart would like to have 
it shown that Christ did it some special favor above 
others; if it can’t see that, it will not come to Christ 
(sometimes), because it hasn’t been sufficiently flat- 
tered by Christ’s attention. As long as it holds 
there, there is no help. That pride has got to break 
first. 








48 MEMORIAL OF THE 


“How deepen the truth that he is a personal 
Saviour?’ The above will convince the mind that 
he is—or it ought to. Then there will be different 
obstacles in different minds. In many (unconverted) 
persons the great hindrance is a stubborn unwilling- 
ness to trust one’s-self to him as one’s own per- 
sonal Saviour; and this unwillingness will make any 
deep impression almost impossible. This unwilling- 
ness is often a very subtle thing, deceiving first the 
subject of it, and then deceiving his advisor. It 
takes every sort of dodge imaginable. If I found 
a person of whom I was not decidedly confident 
that he was a Christian, and who was reluctant to 
assent to the truth that Christ is Azs Saviour, I should 
feel bound to take it for granted, in my own mind, 
that the hindrance was in his perverse wilfulness,— | 
to take it for granted, in spite of any inclination to 
be lenient in judging, in spite of any pity, sympathy, 
friendship or tenderness, that I might feel towards 
him. A man must steel his heart like a physician 
sometimes. Only his words need not be hard. Let 
them be as tender at you will, but “let not thy hand 
spare for his crying.” In the case of a Christian, 
the truth of Christ’s being 472s Saviour, though ac- 
knowledged from the first, deepens by experience, 
and I don’t know that anything but experience can 
deepen-it. Even the Holy Spirit works dy means of 
a man’s experience.» But.an instructor can teach 
men how to learn, by their experience, many things 
they are in danger of missing—and so can, so to 
speak, make their experience greater within a given 











REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 49 


length of time—by calling attention to it in relation 
to its connection with Christ as a needed, offered, ac- 
cepted, efficient, sufficient Saviour. But every man 
must be treated in his own way. And hence the 
benefit of daily intercourse with men, besides weekly 
preaching to them. 

“* How much depends on the feeling that he is 
[a personal Saviour|?’ Everything. If he is not 
my Saviour, I can’t trust him as such; if I don’t trust 
him, I am not saved by him. But perhaps here is an 
ambiquity. To a true Christian he is a Saviour fo- 
tentially and actually,—potentially because he is able 
and willing to save if the man is willing, and actually 
because he does save that man, because the man is 
willing. A true Christian knows that Christ is pofen- 
tially his Saviour, because of Christ’s work and pro- 
mises; but he may not be so sure that Christ is 
actually his Saviour, because he may be afraid that 
his deceptive heart has beguiled him about his hav- 
ing accepted Christ. My grandfather was an excel- 
lent Christian, and he never was sure of the latter 
point till the day of his death. As for myself, I feel 
sure of Christ as my Saviour, not because I am bet- 
ter than my grandfather, or than anybody else, but 
for other reasons. I don’t mean that I am absolutely 
and infallibly sure, but I am as sure as that you and 
I are friends. It may turn out that I am mistaken 
about it, but I don’t expect it. 

“‘ Now in all this, as I am apt to seem, I seem ego- 
tistical. Let me explain. I speak in a positive ex 
cathedra style, because I have no time to put qualify- 





ra 


50 MEMORIAL OF THE 


ing expressions, as “seems to me,” “if I am not 


mistaken,” into every sentence, and I know you have 
sense enough to say to yourself, “That’s Tyler’s 
opinion; he is mistaken sometimes: I will take it 
for what it is worth.” And I mention my own assu- 
rance of Christ’s salvation, merely because I know 
more about myself than about anybody else.” 


How thoroughly he answered the questions 
his friends put to him, appears from the length 
of his letters, which were sometimes twenty 
pages long. And his sympathetic, Christian 
heart crops out in such passages as this: 

“T hope you will make it convenient to 





come here 
the better.” 

“ And I pray God to comfort you, and teach 
you, and make you able to teach Him with 


whenever you please—the sooner 


power.” 

In his studies at Groton, nothing charmed 
him so much as what St. Paul wrote to the 
Galatians. One of his letters on this subject 
says: 

“T have finished my first sketch of my Ga- 
latians sermon. And the people will say— 
‘Rather interesting. Mr. Tyler probably got 








KEV. SAMES-BRAINERD TYLER. 51 


pressed for time, and so gave us this because 
he couldn’t write a regular sermon.’ There 
is more work in this than in five regular ser- 
mons. You will recognize Conybeare and 
Howson in it, but I haven't followed anybody 
blindly.” 

That Mr. Tyler was considered a young 
minister of unusual ability is not evident at 
first. He was no sensational preacher; his 
church was never crowded. But everybody 
respected him, looked up to him, and believed 
that he was thoroughly sincere; and, while 
the impression he made was abiding, only a 
few joined the church during his brief pas- 
torate. 

But older ministers saw worth in him. He 
was invited to preach at different times in New 
London; and it was rumored that he had 
been selected to fill Dr. Field’s pulpit, while 
the Doctor was abroad. 

His qualities as pastor and preacher are best 
brought out by the following paper from New 
London :— 


““My first personal acquaintance with Mr. James 
B. Tyler was at the time of his ordination in Groton. 





52 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Coming late into the Council, I at once recognized 
his face as one that I had met with in New Haven 
without knowing his name, though I had heard him 
commended by his instructors for his abilities and 
attainments. I was impressed with his bright eye, 
intent look, self-possession, and, in what remained of 
the examination, his readiness and discrimination in 
answering the questions propounded. It was evident 
he had thought freely on the points presented, and 
had reached positive conclusions, which he set forth 
with precision. ‘There was no occasion for a dis- 
play of scholarship, but a stranger could see the re- 
sults of study. He was ready to give an answer when 
asked the reasons of his faith and hope. One could 
not but mark the freshness and clearness of his 
thoughts, for which he found apt expression. He 
showed independent, yet considerate habits of 
investigation. On two or three points, which indeed 
were not fundamental yet had their importance, 
his opinions differed from those generally received, 
but with no appearance of forwardness, and still less 
of flippancy. He made the impression of holding 
the great doctrines of the evangelic system intelli- 
gently and firmly, on the authority of the Scriptures, 
against modern forms of unbelief, and in view of 
the most recent controversies. A certain maturity 
in his judgments and expressions might be ascribed 
in part to the fact that, besides the diligence of his 
professional preparation, he was older than many 
candidates for ordination. While the intellectual 
and scholarly quality of the man was thus brought 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 53 


out, it appeared also, in answer to another class of 
inquiries, that his views of Christian character and 
of the ministry were conscientious and earnest. 
Particularly he expressed the conviction that he had 
been divinely led in his religious history. He had 
not left out of account the spiritual preparation for 
his work. 

“The two sermons* I heard from Mr. Tyler, after 
his installation, gave me still more favorable impres- 
sions of his various qualifications. He might not be 
called eloquent, as his voice, though distinct, was not 
rich or expressive, and there was not much emotional 
fervor; yet I have seldom heard sermons more remark- 
able for originality, unity, clearness, and the satisfac- 
tory analysis of the principal theme. There was more 
of careful, happy illustration, too, than would be ex- 
pected from so young a preacher. The one was on 
the two stages in Christian character, first of careful 
obedience to the law of God, and then a more loving 
devotion to his will, or the predominance in the one 
case of conscientiousness, and in the other of love,— 
neither, however, excluding the other. He main- 
tained that, commonly, there is such a gradual pro- 
gress in real piety, while conceding that it ought to 
be, and may be, much more rapid than it is in most 
Christians; and I noted his considerate moderation 
in saying, that if any claimed to have reached the 
higher stage sooner than others, or even at once, he 
would not deny it. The transition was illustrated 


TT) and [VJ in Part i. 





54 MEMORIAL OF THE 


from the experience of a young pupil who diligently 
studies the prescribed lessons, first from a sense 
of obligation, and then from regard for the teacher. 
The other sermon was on the parable of the Prodigal 
Son, and could not have been more freshly conceiv- 
ed or wrought out, if it had been on the most novel 
subject. In the introduction he insisted on the rule, 
so often as he said violated, of interpreting a parable — 
with reference to its one principal idea or lesson, il- 
lustrating his meaning at length, by the unity requir- 
ed in a work of art. This passage was so elaborate 
and minute as to be relatively too long, as he after- 
wards pleasantly acknowledged; but the body of the 
discourse brought out, under the imagery of the 
parable, the quality of true repentance and of the 
divine forgiveness with admirable distinctness, and 
even at some points with dramatic vivacity. These 
two sermons plainly showed more than acuteness and 
culture: they showed, in a rare degree, principal 
elements of the excellence of proper preaching. One 
could not but notice that, scholarly man as he was, 
by his singular clearness and concentration he adapt- 
ed his work to common minds, as well as to the more 
discerning. 

‘My impressions of his classical and scientific cul- 
ture are drawn from others, his instructors and as- 
sociates, who will not fail to do him justice. His 
hearers bear ample testimony to the interest and 
profit of his public services, the fulness of. his in- 
formation on such subjects as came under his notice, 
and his skill in imparting knowledge. Particularly 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 55 


one of his most intelligent parishioners, speaking 
from the advantage of personal intimacy and strong 
attachment, gratefully commemorates his own in- 
debtedness to such instructions, referring for exam- 
ples to one of his addresses at the communion-table, 
in which he unfolded the symbol of the vine and its 
branches, and to his account of China at a missionary 
‘concert.’ His experience for several years as a 
teacher had ripened his natural gifts and acquired 
knowledge for similar duties in the ministry. “ He 
was by nature and practice a teacher.” A like testi- 
mony is borne as to his influence in personal inter- 
course, and the improvement derived from his 
conversation. It would not have been strange if, 
with his mental activity, independence, and candor, 
conversant as he was with the controversies of the 
day, had he lived to pursue such lines of inquiry as 
interested him, he should have adopted some opin- 
ions not common among his brethren. I have re- 
ferred to some divergence of this kind appearing at 
his examination, and he is said to have advanced 
some views in his later sermons that, either from 
their novelty or from being imperfectly understood, 
disturbed some of his more conservative hearers. 
But his grasp of Christian doctrine was too strong 
to be capriciously loosened, and in matters of such 
moment, he was not the man to run after novelty or 
affect originality, or court distinction. He might 
have felt some temptation to ‘ pride of intellect ;’ but 
he was sober and conscientious, both as a student 
and a teacher. 





636 MEMORIAL OF THE 


“The friends who had most admired him intellec- 
tually might have doubted how far he would adjust 
himself to the various duties of the pastoral office; 
but here, as really as in any department, was a sphere 
of his ambition and success. His aptness in teach- 
ing, and his purpose to do good, gave the right 
direction to his powers. In the brief time allowed 
him, as if to make the most of it, he gave himself 
with enthusiasm to the proper work of a pastor. He 
seemed to have a passion for the people of his 
charge. To facilitate his work, he drew maps of 
his rural parish, indicating the several residences. 
He was assiduous in caring for the aged, the infirm, 
the sick, the afflicted, and the poor. His scholastic 
habits and studious preparation for the pulpit did 
not interfere with the zeal of an earnest minister’s — 
first love for the flock committed to his care. And 
thus bestowing affection, he won it in return. ‘One 
of the last acts of his life’-—I cite an account given 
to me—‘ was to visit a sick woman, who was very 
poor. When she heard of his death, she was much 
moved; and then she told how kind he had been to 
her. ‘‘ He always left a dollar or two when he went 
away.” This woman had just come into the place, 
and had no special claims upon him.’ I cite another 
testimony from the same informant: “As a pastor, 
he was pious, he was sincere, he was faithful, he was 
untiring. He loved his people with an unchanging 
love, and almost his last words were, “ You are very 
kind to me; I love you all, I love you all.”’ And 
while even so short a pastorate was not without 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. oF 


differences of opinion and debates among them, it is 
added, ‘There is no doubt but that the people loved 
him.’ Indeed, it must be said that in those few 
months he was overtasked by his work, not taking 
due care of his health, and keeping mind and body 
under too much tension. Being obliged to spare his 
eyes, he took ‘the evenings for walking and calling;’ 
and, between in-door studies and out-door duties, he 
was so ill fitted to resist disease, that at last, young as 
he was, his condition seemed to a physician ‘like the 
exhaustion of old age.’ 

“And, at last, after hastening back to his work 
from the Seminary Anniversary in New Haven, when 
his activity was suddenly arrested, and the end drew 
near, as he well knew; even in the wanderings of his 
mind he brooded over the sacred themes of his call- 
ing; and, in the intervals of consciousness, though, 
with all his gifts and promise, he was to desist so 
soon from that work which he had scarcely more 
than begun, and to give up all that he had projected, 
and for which he was so qualified and ready, yet 
his predominant sentiment was a cheerful acquies- 
cence in his Lord’s will, with the desire that his 
parents and sisters, losing in him an only son and 
brother, might feel, as he felt, that all was well. The 
details of his illness and death, as of his life, will be 
recorded by other pens. The ministers and Chris- 
tian people in the vicinity were moved to sympathy 
with the bereaved family and the bereaved church, 
in view of so marked an instance of the recurring 


mysteries of Providence, that such a life should be 
4 





58 MEMORIAL OF THE 


cut short, even before its prime. From all.that I 
have learned of him, he is most fitly associated in 
my thoughts, not so much with the admiring regards 
of his former associates, or even the affectionate 
tributes of his parishioners and kindred, as with the 
sentence he is believed to have won— Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant.’ | 


“ Oc BADAGGETI.: 
i “NEw Lonpon, Conn.” 


7» SICKNESS AND DEATH. 


Mr. Tyler left Groton on Monday, May 
13th, to visit his house in New Haven, and to 
attend the closing exercises of the Seminary 
Year. His face lighted up as he met his old 
friends and mates, and he was delighted to 
grasp again the hands he had not felt for 
months. But after the smile of greeting was 
over, there was evident a more anxious and 
careworn look than belonged to him in the 
seminary. His burden came out little by lit- 
tle as he talked with his friends, though he 
never mentioned it in his home. He was dis- 
appointed in his prospects for life; had work- 
ed hard to be what he was; and now that he 








REV. SAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 59 


knew his health was worthless, it saddened 
-him. He told a friend that he believed he 
had seen his best days, and was now on the 
decline. He took a long night-walk with an- 
other, and the conversation was on God's 
dark ways; he showed a most beautiful faith. 
“T have sometimes felt,” said he, “as though 
there were nothing but a Blind Force over 
us; and, when all adrift, have prayed, ‘O God, 
if there de a God,’ but now I &xow it.” And, 
as he made light of his large troubles of 
severe bodily pain and broken health, and 
thought how all his life had been one chain 
of struggles, he remarked, “I used to care 
little for Heaven; | thought Duty was every- 
thing. But I’ve had so many little disap- 
pointments all through life, that now I begin 
to look upon Heaven as a place where there 
never will be another trial—but Rest.” And 
the emphatic repetition of the word “ Rest” 
in one of his sermons on “I will give you 
rest,’ shows how he longed for cessation from 
what he could not bear. 

During his visit he complained of headache, 
lameness, and chilliness; yet he kept about as 





60 : MEMORIAL OF THE — 


usual, visiting friends and entertaining com- 
pany. He returned to Groton on Friday, 
May 17th. From this time his health rapidly 
declined. He had arranged an exchange for 
Sunday, but a storm prevented the plan; so 
he took to church an old sermon on John viii. 
42 and 43. The introductory exercises were 
gotten through with difficulty; and, while 
reading the sermon, he was seized with such 
a severe pain in his leg that he was forced to 
sit and finish his discourse. “Every word 
was emphatic under such circumstances, and 
those who heard can never forget the words 
he spoke. He seemed inspired to plead for 
the 7ruth. After service the people clustered 
about him, and charged him to undertake no 
further labor until he was entirely well. He 
went to his room and never left it again.” * 
On Thursday, May 23d, his mother was 
sent for and reached him about 2 P.M. When 
left alone with him, she said, ‘“‘ James, you are 
very sick, and will have a long time of it, if 


* I am indebted to Mr. J. J. Copp, Groton, Ct. 
not only for help in writing this paper, but for as- 
sistance rendered in many other ways. 











REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 61 


you ever do get well. We must be submis- 
sive and take it as God gives it.” He replied, 
“Oh, yes; I have no choice to live or die; 
but I did want to preach a little more.” 

Then he told her about the last Sunday: 
“1 was to have exchanged with the Ledyard 
minister; but it was too stormy for him to 
come; so there was no other way but for me 
to preach an old sermon. I went to church 
in a pouring rain, and when I got there felt 
so ill that I made the exercises very brief, and 
commenced my sermon. My knee pained 
me, and I felt faint. I drew the chair to the 
front of the platform and finished the sermon 
sitting ; and oh, Ma, I did enjoy that sermon.” 

When he was himself “he was patient and 
courteous, and smiled upon his friends who 
came to see him. Gifts of flowers pleased 
him ever so much, and he had them placed 
where he could see them. He noted every- 
thing that was done for him. ‘ You are all 
so kind to me,’ he repeated over and over 
again; and added: ‘I love you all; I love 
you all.’”’ 

‘“‘His physician told him that he must re- 





62 MEMORIAL OF THE 


sign his pastorate, and take a long rest from 
all mental labor. This weighed heavily on 
him, and he referred to it with regret.” 

His sisters came on Saturday. He was 
pleased to see them; tried to joke a little, and 
wanted them to care for him while his mother 
rested. Indeed, he revived so, that hopes 
were entertained of his recovery. 

At other times he was delirious; and then 
he seemed to feel, as before, the great truths 
he had spent his winter in preaching. ‘Justi- 
fication by Faith,” and the “ Law of Love” 
were the constant thoughts of his mind. “It 
was as if he had said, ‘I have loved you, abide 


> 99 


in love. His delirium grew wilder, and 
every time he came out of one, he was weak- 
er. “On Monday his father came; but the 
sick one was too weak to be informed of it; 
and on Tuesday at 10.15 A.M., he passed qui- 
etly away to that perfect rest prepared by 
Him whose service had been the joy of his 


lifes? | 


As soon as the silence of the room could be 
broken, every attention was offered to those 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 63 


whose loss was so heavy. ‘“ What will you 
have prepared?” was asked the mother. ell 
“Something simple,” said she ; “for that would 
be Azs wish.”’ But his people wanted to honor 
the dead. They laid him in a beautiful casket, 
heavily handled the entire length. Flowers 
shaped into the Cross and Crown and in 
wreaths, were brought in love. 

At the appointed time, brief services were 
held at the church, which was full to over- 
flowing ; then a large number accompanied 
the body to New Haven; the funeral was at 
his home. Rev. Mr. Hubbel, of the College- 
street Church, read the Scriptures. A hymn 
was sung by a quartette. Dr. Bacon, not 
concealing his sorrow, told the story of .his 
life, and how he had loved him asa son. Dr. 
Dwight offered prayer. Three young minis- 





. ters and a former friend were the bearers. 


There was one place in Groton that Mr. 
Tyler loved to drop into often—the Stone 
Works. The Groton granite is noted for the 
fineness of its texture and for the beautiful 
finish it is capable of receiving. Mr. Tyler 





64 MEMORIAL OF THE 


often admired it, and watched the workmen 
as they shaped a huge urn or polished a slab. 

His people asked permission to place over 
him a simple heavy stone of polished Groton 
granite, on which is cut in block letters this 
inscription : 


a 


PASTOR 


CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 


GROTON. 


May 28th, 1872. 


#. 30, 





On Mr. Tyler’s death, his church was heav- 
ily draped. The pulpit and gallery were 
edged, and posts wreathed, with crape. And 
his portrait hangs in the lecture-room, seem- 
ing ever to say— 


“Life is real—Life is earnest, 
And the grave is not its goal.” 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 65 


APPENDIX. 


vn 


Mr. TYLER was especially useful to his 
friends by his letters: they could question 
him with the certainty that he would spare 
no pains to answer, in the fullest way, any- 
thing in his power. And the following letter, 
though not a reply to questions, shows how 
carefully he wrote, and how willing he was 
to help, even where it was not expected. 


New HAvEN, AZril 20, 1870. 





DEAR Mrs. 
Our little conversation last winter about the re- 
newing of friendships in heaven, set me to thinking 
more particularly on the subject, which I have con- 
tinued at intervals since returning here; and now I 
have taken it into my head to put my thoughts to- 
gether and send them to you, knowing that you are 
interested in the subject. 
To begin with, we should fix it in our minds that 
all our religious belief about the future, with the ex- 
ception of a few points of fundamental importance, 


tts 





66 MEMORIAL OF THE 


is not a belief in what is certazz to us, but in what is 
more or less probable. A few things—that righteous- 
ness shall finally prevail, and Christ’s perfect king- 
dom be established upon the earth; that the earth in 
its present form shall be destroyed and give place to 
a better world; that after death come resurrection, 
judgment, blessedness and glory for the righteous, 
and shame and misery for the wicked; and perhaps 
one or two things more like these—are known with 
the greatest confidence by all who receive the reve- 
lation of the Bible; but, as soon as we descend into 
particulars, we find probabilities taking the place of 
certainties. Certainly Christ will set up his king- 
dom here—but when? and by what means? and in 
what manner? Is he to appear in visible form? Will 
his reign essentially change the natural characteris- 
tics of our world? Certainly there is to be a resur- 
rection—but ‘“ How are the dead raised up? and 
with what body do they come ?” what sort of thing 
is the “spiritual body”? Certainly there is to be a 
. judgment of the souls of men—but can anybody 
tell surely whether it will be in a great visible as- 
sembly, or for every man and his acquaintances in 
their own hearts only? Certainly there is a hell— 
but who can-inform us just what itis? Certainly 
there is a heaven—but is it a place, or only a state? 
and are the songs and harpings of the saints literally 
such, or are they the harmonious gladness of love 
and obedience? and the heavenly Jerusalem, with 
all its splendor, and the pearls, and gold, and precious 
stones, and the “sea of glass’ and the “tree of life” 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD: TVLER. 67 


—will anybody say with certainty just what they 
are? ‘The answers to all these questions must be 
uncertain. If aman says the statements of the Bible 
are to be taken literally, and not figuratively, how 
does he know it? If another says they are figura- 
tive, not literal, where did he find out that? 

‘The truth is, that upon many of these matters the 
Bible is entirely or almost silent; that on many oth- 
ers it speaks at greater length, but not in language 
which is by any means unmistakable in its interpre- 
tation; and that the opinions of men concerning 
such matters cannot therefore be infallibly true. But 
that is not saying that) all our opinions about them 
are mere guess-work, not to be at all confided in, A 
number of beliefs may all be lacking in complete 
certainty, and yet some may be immensely more 
probable than others, so as to be the basis of a rea- 
sonable and strong confidence; while others may 
be so improbable as to be worthy of no confidence 
at all. 

We must not expect, then, to arrive at an abso- 
lutely certain conclusion concerning friendships in 
heaven; and yet we may obtain a result which shall 
justify a confident hope of seeing our departed 
friends again, or a confident despair of ever doing 
so. Which it shall be, will appear below. 

In order to avoid confusion of ideas, we should 
separate the inquiry into two parts: rst, What would 
be our conclusions on this subject, if the Scriptures 
were entirely silent about it? and, 2dly, How do the 
Scriptures modify these conclusions? 





68 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Shall we in heaven renew the friendships formed on 
earth? is the question in hand. 

rst, Unless the Scriptures contradict it, it is very 
probable that we shall renew them. It should be 
taken for granted that things will remain as they are, 
unless it can be shown that they probably will not. 
If, therefore, any one predicts that the state of things 
will change in such and such a way, it is for him to 
undertake to prove it, before we need to trouble our- 
selves to dsprove it. This is the principle of com- 
mon sense which we use every day. If I amcon- 
scious‘ of loving a friend to-day, I take it as a mat- 
ter of course that I shall love him to-morrow. To | 
be sure it is posszble that I may not; but if any one 
says that I will not, I don’t believe him till he shows 
good reasons why I will not. So, too, if I love my 
friend now, common sense makes me believe I shall 
love him in heaven, unless there are good reasons to 
the contrary. Merely to say that it is posszble that I 
may not, is of no consequence. . 

But ave there not good reasons to suppose I shall 
not continue to love my friend in heaven? Let us 
see. Some one may say that death changes our af- 
fections. Whose death? The death of my friend 
does not do it; for every one knows that our love 
to the deceased continues. Will the death of my- 
self do it? A few persons may say it will, but that 
is their mere say-so, without any proof; and I have 
never heard of any proof of theirs (except from — 
Scripture, which it is not yet time to consider), 
which was worthy of the slightest attention. It is 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 69 


settled therefore for the present (be reminded that 
we are now inquiring what we should believe if the 
Scriptures were silent), that we must believe that 
friendship is not broken off by death. 

It is not necessary to add another argument to 
the above, but yet I will do it, and so still further 
strengthen the conclusion arrived at. It is this— 
that kindred tastes and desires, by their very nature, 
tend to form friendship and to continue it; and 
these, if they existed to make friendship on earth, 
will still make it in heaven. The same is true of 
memory: for we may often observe how the mere 
fact of two persons remembering the same events 
creates a tendency to friendship; and the more so, 
the further off those events were. How, then, will 
it be, if we meet in heaven a person whose tastes and 
desires, being similar to our own, were the cause of 
an earthly friendship between us, especially if also 
we can recall the memory of temptations, troubles, 
sorrows, joys, which we experienced together long 
ago on earth? 

This argument, as I said, gives greater strength to 
our conclusion; but it is not necessary, and there- 
fore our conclusion would still remain unshaken if 
this argument could be set aside. But can it be set 
aside? I think not. For the only way to do that 
would be to prove (not merely to say) that we shall 
not recognize one another in heaven, so that these 
similar tastes and common memories cannot be dis- 
covered, even if they exist. But nobody can prove 
that. On the contrary, we are to be the same indah- 


70 MEMORIAL OF THE 


viduals there that we are here (only purified and fur- 
ther enlightened), and individuality is the very thing 
by which recognition is made possible. _ 

And now, it may be added, not as a direct proof, 
but as further corroboration of the doctrine I am ad- 
vocating, that the belief in the recognition of friends 
and the continuation of friendship in the future 
world is so natural that it has been accepted by all 
sects of every religion, in every age of the world, ex- 
cept by those who do not believe in a future life of 
ourselves as persons, and by a scattering few here and 
there among Christians. In view of these things, we 
ought to consider it firmly established as exceedingly 
probable, that friendship is to remain in the heavenly 
life, wnzless the Scriptures say differently. So we 
come to consider,— 

2ndly, What do the Scriptures teach about it? If 
they are silent, our former conclusion remains unaf- 
fected; if they speak for it, that conclusion is made 
still more nearly certain; if they seem to speak 
slightly against it, that conclusion becomes some- 
what less probable; if they speak clearly against it, 
that conclusion must be rejected. 

Now let us see how they do speak. | 

But in the first place, to clear the ground for ac- 
tion, let us notice three texts which do not apply at 
all to this subject, though they may at first sight 
seem to. 

1 Johniu. 2. “It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be,” may seem to teach that we cannot know in- 
this life what our condition in heaven will be. But 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 71 


the true sense is that, although we even now are 
“sons of God,” yet that perfect sonship, which will 
some time be ours, “ doth not yet appear” in us. 

1 Cor. il. 9. “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into heart of man, the things 
which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 
This verse has been thought to teach that the things 
of heaven are to be different from those of earth. 
But by reading the verses before and after, we find 
that there is no reference to this subject. The apos- 
tle is speaking of “the wisdom of God,” “ which 
‘none of the princes of this world knew,” though 
“God hath revealed” it “unto ws’ Christians. The 
contrast that he has in mind, therefore, is not be- 
tween the earthly and the heavenly state of the 
saints, but between the worldly men and those “ that 
love God”’ on the earth. 

Feb? xi1y23.)- Butsye afexcome sins. to the gen- 
eral assembly and church of the first-born, which are 
written in heaven,’ does not speak of our recognizing 
persons in heaven (as having belonged to the church 
on earth), but says that, on becoming Christians, we 
have joined ourselves to that company, to that party, 
rather than the Jewish—whether in heaven or earth 
is of no consequence. 

These texts have nothing to do with our question: 
now we will consider those that do apply. 

1. Weare to retain our individual peculiarities (that 
is, of course, as far as they do not belong to the sin- 
ful or earthly part of our nature.) This is included 
in the idea of resurrection—which is the rising again 








72 MEMORIAL OF THE 


of the same individual, not of somebody altogether 
different. Do the apostles comfort the early Chris- 
tians with the thought that, if Christians die, God 
will raise up the same zumber of perfect souls instead 
of a given number of imperfect ones? Not at all. 
Their encouragement is that he will raise up the 
same souls. And again. God is the “ God of Abra- 
ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 
for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living.” 
(Luke x. 37, 38). Does that look as if Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob were in heaven merely three perfect 
souls precisely alike, so that either one might be 
taken for another? Or does it look as if Abraham 
was that same Abraham, and nobody else; and that 
Isaac was Isaac; and Jacob, Jacob? And still again, 
“To him that overcometh will I give..... a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which 
no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Rev. 
ii. 17). Either the “white stone,’ with its secret 
name, means the sense that a man has of what Christ 
is and has been to himself in particular, and to none 
other, and so points clearly to the intense zzdiv7du- 
ality of each Christian in heaven; or else this text 
means nothing that has to do with the present dis- 
cussion. 

2. We shall be able to recognize Christ in his per- 
sonal form... See. John xvii. 24 and Sivjee soe 
Thess. iv. 17. (“ The Lord” is Paul’s very common 
expression for Christ). Now this recognition of 
Christ is a recognition of him in his glorified body, 
which is visible and distinguishable (it was seen, Acts 





KEV. FAMES BRAINERD. TYLER. 73 


i. 11), and like which our bodies are to be after the 
resurrection. (Phil. iii. 21). We shall therefore also 
be able to distinguish each other. 

3. We shall be able to distinguish persons in the 
future life as being the ones of whom we have known 
on earth. ‘Thus, in the parable, Abraham, Lazarus, 
and the rich man recognized each other (Luke 
Xvi. 23-25). 

Moreover, if we are to know nobody but God 
in heaven, the rest being indistinguishable, what rea- 
son could there have been for rousing the contrary 
expectation in the pious Jews by telling them of 
sitting down “with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob” 
(Matt. viii. 11), when he might just as well have 
said “with Tom, and Dick, and Harry”? It must 
have been a deception on the part of Jesus, if he 
knew they could not know Abraham from any one 
else when they were sitting down with him. 

4. We shall retain our interest in the persons we 
have left behind on earth. The rich man did so in 
regard to his relatives. (Luke xvi. 27, 28). 

5. Lf this earth (renewed and purged from the 
effects of sin) zs to be the place of the glory of the risen 
dead, then it 1s almost certain that there will be the 
usual relations between man and man, except as far as 
they belonged to the old mortal and sinful state. I 
do not, however, insist very strongly on this argu- 
ment, because it is not quite settled in my mind 
whether we shall dwell on a rejuvenated earth; but 
some passages seem to teach that we shall (2 Pet. 111. 








74 MEMORIAL OF THE 


12, 13; Rey. xxii. 1; Rom. viii. 18-23), where the 
creature, the irrational creation, is spoken of as ex- 
isting in a hopeful expectation of being delivered 
from perishableness); and a good many, and (I think) 
a constantly increasing number of good and learned 
men hold this belief. If they are right, our whole 
question may be considered as decided. If they are 
not, then these texts have no bearing on the subject 
any way. 

The above are all the Scripture teachings that 
bear on this point, as far as I know. If I have 
omitted any, it will be a favor to inform me of it. 

_ But two objections to my view may perhaps be 
made, which I will consider now. 

1. It may be said that we shall be so overwhelmed 
in the admiration and love of Christ and God, that 
we shall have left no capacity for special love of any 
other being. But how do we know that that will be 
the effect of the perfect love of God? The nature 
of that love can be judged of by our experience 
here. It does not decrease our friendship for any 
one who is worthy of friendship. If the perfect love 
of God is to destroy other friendship, then we ought 
to find other friendship decreasing just in propor- 
tion as our love to God increases; but, on the con- 
trary, we observe that as love to God increases, 
other friendship widens and deepens and grows 
richer with it, and still more so if our friend also is 
growing in the love of God. What, then, should 
we expect to find, when our own love to God, and 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 75 


that of our friend to God, both become perfect at 
once? Anything but a decrease of loving fellowship 
between ourselves ! 

2. It may be objected that marriage is the state of 
the closest friendship in this world, so that if that is 
not to continue, probably no other friendship can; 
and that Christ expressly said that marriage does xot 
continue in the other world (Matt. xxii. 30). But 
Christ did not say that; He denied that there would 
be in the future life any marrying or géving in mar- 
riage,—that is, any contracting of new marriage,— 
not that marriages already formed would be broken 
up. But supposing he did say even this, still he 
would not have thereby overthrown my doctrine. 
For marriage is a doudde thing; including, rst, a union 
of such a kind as must cease when we are freed from 
a material body; and, 2dly, a spz7ztwal union of two 
souls, drawn together by similar tastes, feelings and 
desires, by common interests and experiences, and 
by a habit of intimate communication one with an- 
other. This second element of marriage is friend- 
ship; the other is not. It may therefore be true that 
the first element is done away at death, and so that 
marriage is destroyed by being reduced to spiritual 
friendship; and that is the most that can be made 
of this saying of Christ. The matter of friendship was 
not what he was discussing with the Jews. See what 
the case was which they brought before him. It 
had reference entirely to that peculiar relation be- 
tween two persons which makes them man and wife, 








76 MEMORIAL OF THE 


rather than merely friend and friend, and which is 
to be known, not by the growth of friendship, but by 
the bearing of children (as shown by verse 25, “ hav- 
ing no issue.”) 

Now let us review what we have done. We first 
learned that it was not necessary to reach absolute 
certainty on this subject in order to have ground for 
a reasonable confidence. Then we found that if the 
Scriptures taught nothing about it, we should be ob- 
liged to consider it very probable indeed that in the 
future life we shall recognize and renew friendship 
with the friends of earth. Then we saw that the 
Scriptures do not speak at great length or very 
strongly about the matter, but that their testimony is 
never unfavorable to our former conclusion, but 
rather, as far as it goes, favorable. We have, then, 
a very strong probability from natural reason, slightly 
strengthened by Scripture. And that is as good 
ground as we have for almost any belief concerning 
the future, except on a few points of the most ex- 
treme importance. 

The true doctrine, then, as far as it can be dis- 
covered, is one which encourages, rather than damp- 
ens, the natural tendency of every heart that is set 
on heaven, to look forward to it as a condition where 
all noble friendship may have its most perfect fruit 
beneath the constant smile of an approving God. 
The afflicted need not, therefore, at the bedside of a 
companion and friend always bid farewell for all 
eternity; and the mourner need not try to harden 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. vy; 


his heart into forgetfulness, but may find dear com- 
fort in the hope of another meeting in joy without 
the sorrow of another parting. 
We are all as usual. Remember me to all your 
household. 
Respectfully and affectionately, yours, 


‘Laon Deol VER 


P.S.—I am licensed to preach at last. When I 
came here from Millbury, I had doubts whether I 
ever could be; but you see I’ve turned out more 
orthodox than I expected. 





78 MEMORIAL OF THE 


B. 


THE manner in which Mr. Tyler planned _ 
some of his sermons will be of interest, es- 
pecially to his class. He speaks of this plan 
on page 45. . 


2 PETER, i., Tr. 
‘* For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the 


everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 


LOGICAL. 
1. Salvation is different to differ- 
ent people. 
Prove it. 
Answer objection from justifica- 
tion by faith. 


2. Therefore, obtain the best 
kind. 


3. How to do it. 
a. How so many fail. 
&. How avoid failure. — 


_4. Recapitulation and conclu- 
sion, 


RHETORICAL. 


rt. Make them feel the difference 
between Christians and the differ- 
ence between their rewards. 

Impress upon them what the 
difference is. 


2. Create a longing for the best. 


3. Impress upon them whence 
the difference is. Incidentally— 
a. Stir up the old to see their 
failures. : : 
é. Stir up the young to the de- 
termination not to fail. 


4. Combine the force of the im- 
phase by already made. End with 
opefulness of abundant entrance. 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 79 


Ce 


THE question of Evolutionism in Natural 
History (for of Evolutionism as a general sys- 
tem of philosophy we shall not speak) is essen- 


tially a question of the Origin of Species. 
Now there is no man who can tell with com- 


plete precision what the term sfeczes means. 
A species is merely a product of the classify- 
ing faculties of the mind; and yet it must be 
faithfully conformed to the facts of nature. 
Again, it is generally agreed that whenever 
the common offspring of two sorts of individ- 
uals constantly exhibits a partial or entire 
barrenness, such a fact is sufficient ground for 
regarding those two sorts as distinct species ; 
and yet this test cannot be universally applic- 
able, because the peculiar mode of propaga- 
tion among some of the lowest animals and 
plants makes it in their case unmeaning. More- 


* Delivered in College Street Church, May, 1871, at the 
Anniversary of the Theological Seminary. See p. 33. 








80 MEMORIAL OF THE 


over, even with regard to the organisms 
whose propagation is more or less bisexual, 
our knowledge of the facts is so defective that, 
out of the whole number of acknowledged 
species, it is only a small percentage whose 
limits are actually determined by the phenom- 
ena of hybridism; but the classification has 
to be guided almost wholly by structure and 
the more obvious functions. And still further, 
in many cases where there is no dispute as to 
what the known facts are, there is a wide dif- 
ference of opinion as to the true boundaries of 
the species. 

But it should not be thought, because such 
obscurities and disagreements exist concern- 
ing the definition of species, that the question 
of their origin is too ill defined to be worth 
discussing. With regard to the boundaries 
of most of them, all naturalists are now of one 
mind, and let us leave out of account all cases 
but these. Then the question will be, Is it a 
general law that the individuals of what we 
all agree to call one species, are descended 
from the same ancestors as the individuals of 
what is acknowledged now to be a different 











REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. SI 


species? To answer Yes, is to be an Evolu- 
tionist; to answer No, is to reject Evolu- 
tionism. 

Now it is not the purpose of this Article to 
prove either that the Evolutionists are right, 
or that they are wrong; and therefore the 
writer may be excused from describing the 
divers forms which their theory takes in the 
hands of Spencer, Darwin, Wallace, Mivart, 
and others. It is proposed only to say a few 
words concerning two questions :—(I.) Wheth- 
er Evolutionism necessarily contradicts Christ- 
ianity, andif so,in what points? And (II.) [fit 
is found to be inconsistent with Christianity, 
what course of argument will it then be prop- 
er to follow? 

I. Does Evolutionism necessarily contradict 
Christianity? Our polemics should have 
paid more attention to this question before 
they attacked the naturalists so fiercely with 
theological arguments. The contrary course 
was quite natural, to besure, when we saw the 
whole tribe of shallow and blatant opposers 
of Christianity flocking over to the new theory, 
as they always do, for reasons quite other than 


5 








82 MEMORIAL OF THE 


scientific. But it is unfair to confound with 
them the truly philosophic minds which have 
in no small numbers advocated Evolutionism. 

The popular idea that Evolutionism in any 
direct manner destroys the proof of the exis- 
tence or attributes of God, seems to be a 
mistaken one. 

The chief arguments which are now sup- 
posed to afford satisfactory proof of God’s ex- 
istence are of four kinds :-— 

In the first place, it is said, that since each 
event is caused by something, and that by 
something else, and so on, the tracing back of 
any series of events in the line of their causa- 
tion will bring us ultimately to a first cause, 
which is God. Now this argument depends 
not at all on the belief that we have heretofore 
been accustomed to ascribe the true cause to 
any event, but only on the general truth that 
all events are caused,—which Evolution does 
not pretend to deny. Yet we frequently hear 
a deprecating cry that the new theories will 
push God further back in the line of causes,— 
as if that would in the least weaken the argu- 
ment for his existence. Why, the argument 








REV. ¥AMES BRAINERD TYLER. 83 


itself affirms that he is the /zrst Cause, not a 
recent one; and if now we insert more means 
between the extreme terms of the series, what 
difference will that make with the first ex- 
treme ? 

Again, men argue that the order and adap- 
tations which we see in nature, show design ; 
that design implies a designer, and that the 
designer of the universe is God. All this (so 
far as natural history can affect it) depends 
upon our discerning adaptation and order in 
the realm of nature ; which things Evolution- 
ism emphatically affirms: so that the worst 
that it can doin this matter is to make obso- 
lete certain popular illustrations of adaptation, 
—a thing that has been done a hundred times 
already without shaking any man’s faith in a 
God. 

Again, some prefer to put the argument in 
this form :—That the existence of God is the 
hypothesis which best explains the facts of the 
universe. This will remain soif Evolutionism 
should prove tobe true. Indeed, if blind mat- 
ter, following out its own nature, so uniformly 
works towards internal harmony and _ benefi- 








84 MEMORIAL OF THE 


cence, then (unless it was all by the barest 
chance, and so inexplicable on any theory), 
what intelligence was required to plan the ~ 
original nature of matter so well? 

Again, there are others who say that the 
human mind is necessitated, or that it is com- 
manded, by its essential constitution to believe 
in God. If so, then it will be as possible for 
Evolutionism to do away with the regulative 
authority of our natural constitution as it has 
been for metaphysical speculations to do the 
same. In attempting it, they break the ice 
under their own feet, and fall into a sea with- 
out bottom. 

Neither will Evolutionism directly affect 
the doctrine of the attributes of God. His self- 
existence and conscious intelligence are de- 
duced by theologians from the arguments we 
have just considered ; and these two of the so- 
called “natural” attributes being given, all 
the rest of them will follow. And: it is from 
these, taken in connection with God’s works, 
that his moral character and government are 
proved. The works which are taken into ac- 
count for this purpose are the facts that we 














REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 85 


find existing now and during the time of au- 
thentic history; and Evolutionism meddles 
with none of these, unless it denies the exis- 
tence of a soul. 

The objections customarily urged against 
God’s moral character are, (firstly) the exis- 
tence of evil in the world; in regard to which 
Evolutionism does nothing to affect the old ar- 
guments, except to show that what we have 
been wont to call physical evilis on the wholea 
physical good : and (secondly) it is urged that 
the righteous and the wicked are not reward- 
ed according to their deserts; against which 
Christians reply that there is a future life 
where that matter will be set right: and it is 
yet to be seen what the theory of the natural- 
ists will say to that. 

It, appears, then, that it is only in a very in- 
direct way—viz: by first disturbing the Chris- 
tian belief about the nature and destinies of 
the human soul—that Evolutionism can be dan- 
gerous to the doctrine of God,—a fact which 
cannot be emphasized too much, since it so 
commonly escapes attention. Of this now 
more particularly. 








86 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Firstly. If the Evolutionists deny that there 
was a time during the progress of organism, 
when ¢he soul, as an entity, and not merely asa 
mode of action, began to exist, they do come in- 
to irreconcilable conflict with Christianity. It 
may be that the soul began in some lower 
animal than man, from which it went on de- 
veloping till it became human; and it may 
be either that the soul was directly created ; 
or that it was generated out of matter (if 
they can tell how that could be) ;—these points 
are not essential: but if Evolutionism is forced 
by real consistency with itself, (and not merely 
by some fallacy of its advocates) to deny the 
objective existence of the soul, then either 
that doctrine or Christianity is false. 

Secondly. If Evolutionism by logical necés- 
sity denies any attribute of the human soul 
which is indispensable to a moral nature.in man, 
there is no reconciling that theory with Chris- 
tianity. It may deny the freedom of the will, 
if it can still accept moral responsibility ; it 
may show that “the right” and “the useful ” 
have been developed by natural selection from 
one common idea, if it will admit that these 














REV. JAMES BRAINERD.TVLER. 87 


are now distinct ideas; it may hold that the 
rules of objective morality have come. by na- 
tural selection, if it will still allow that there 
is independently a quality of rightness in love 
and of wrongness in hate; but if it destroys 
morality, it destroys Christianity. 

Thirdly. If Evolution denies that at some 
time during the development of the substance 
called soul—no matter when, no matter how 
—a capacity for zmmortality was bestowed 
upon it, or will be bestowed; there can be no 
peace between such doctrine and Christianity. 

Does Evolutionism deny these things? To 
this the answer is,— 

Firstly. That Evolutionism, as. a doctrine 
of natural history, can have nothing to say 
about immortality, except by denying that the 
soul has an existence even in this world. 

Secondly. Evolutionism must respect facts; 
and sin is a fact as well known asthe existence 
of fossils. Our knowledge of it does not de- 
pend on natural history so much as our know- 
ledge of fossils depends on psychology. Now 
a theory belonging to inductive science is not 
called upon to make or unmake facts, but to 








8g MEMORIAL OF THE 


explain them if itcan. &. g, if the naturalist 
holds that men are descended from apes, he 
must not from that infer that men have hands 
on their lower limbs, for the fact is otherwise. 
So, too, the Evolutionist must not use his 
theory to prove that men, like apes, have no 
moral nature, or are not sinners; for the fact 
is known to be otherwise. He must either 
not touch this fact, or else explain it. But his 
science does not require him to touch it at 
all; or perhaps he will be able to explain it. 
So then Evolutionism can be held in sucha 
form as not to contradict Christianity on this 
point—at least, if it will let us believe in a 
soul. : 
Thirdly. We come to the point upon which 
all our difficulties have been concentrating. Js 
there a soul? Does Evolution necessarily say 
there is none? Plainly not, we think. The 
existence of the soul is a fact codrdinate with 
the existence of matter, and known by the 
same kind of knowledge, namely, by the sim- 
plest consciousness. Now if men will deny the 
trustworthiness of this sort of knowledge, let 
them do it, and they deny matter as well as 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 89 


soul, natural history as well as psychology, 
Science as well as religion. But Evolution 
confesses what we call matter, confesses there- 
fore the mode of knowledge by which we 
know of matter, confesses therefore the mode 
by which we know of soul. The utmost that 
Evolutionism can do, is to acknowledge itself 
unable to explain how there comes to be a 
soul. But there is an unmeasurable gulf be- 
tween that and proving that there is no soul. 
Therefore the doctrine that there is but one 
substance—call it matter, soul, or what you 
will—existing in the universe, though many 
Evolutionists hold it, is not essential to Evolu- 
tionism. It would be consistent to hold that 
the body of man is descended from a shell-fish, 
if they like, and even to explain some things 
about the soul itself by evolution, and yet to 
leave us a substantial soul, with morality and 
immortality ; and, having these, we can show 
that there is a divine revelation, and an in- 
spiration of the Scriptures; for our argument 
for the supernatural remains unchanged till 
they deny the soul. And after inspiration 
follows the whole train of doctrines essential 


oe 





90 MEMORIAL OF THE 


to Christianity. To be sure, Evolutionism, if 
adopted, may modify the old belief in non- 
essentials, such as the interpretation of certain 
books or passages of the Bible: but Geology 
has already done as much without weakening | 
Christianity at all; while, on the other hand, 
it has added corroboration to certain passages, 
as Evolution also will. And Evolutionism 
may yet do great service to religion by break- 
ing up a chronic skepticism among the ortho- 
dox, which deprecates any increasing our 
knowledge of the internal completeness of the 
mechanism of the universe, lest forsooth 
Divine Providence should prove incompetent 
to manage a machine so vast. 

I]. We have now answered the first inquiry, 
Whether Evolutionism necessarily contradicts 
Christianity. This question properly comes 
first; and it has been by too often neglecting 
such inquiries, and taking it for granted that 
every new and startling scientific theory is 
dangerous, that theologians have gained their 
reputation for meddling where they ought 
not, and for being defeated. If Evolutionism 
is not hostile to Christianity, then it is purely 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. gI 


a matter of natural science, to be settled by the 
principles of natural science, and all theologi- 
cal arguments against it are impertinent. But 
when Evolutionism is shown to be irreconcil- 
able with Christianity —and this is exactly 
what some of its friends pretend to show— 
then the claim of its advocates to be let alone 
by theologians will be no less. impertinent. 
When there are two systems radically at 
variance, the contest between them cannot 
be settled by first establishing one upon 
grounds which would be sufficient, provid- 
ed the other had never have heard. of, and 
then taking this system as an unquestion- 
able basis from which to destroy the opposing 
one. That method cuts as fairly one way as 
the other, and never can come at.the truth. If 
we would have an everlasting wrangle with- 
out progress towards right thinking, let it 
first be admitted that Evolutionism is essen- 
tially hostile to Christianity, and then let 
naturalists refuse to consider any theological 
arguments concerning Evolutionism, and the- 


-ologians refuse all scientific arguments about 


Theology. No, but if the two systems of be- 








92 ; MEMORIAL OF THE 


lief are indeed foes without possible recon- 
ciliation, this is the question that comes before 
us,—W hether the whole mass of reasons which 
support the one system is of greater weight 
than the whole mass of those which support 
the other. All sorts of arguments, then, from 
every source, for and against either theory, 
are in order. Each party must listen in pa- 
tience and make answer as best it may; and 
thus, by a gradual elimination of fallacies from 
both sides, the kindled atoms of verity scatter- 
ed through the confused mass will seek each 
other, till, where chaos was, there will stand 
a crystal ;—on which side of the old contested 
line, who should care ?—since it will be the 
truth. That is an evolution deeply to be 
desired. 














REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 93 


D. 


Atameeting of the Churchin Groton, Conn., 
held Thursday evening, June 7th, the follow- 
ing resolutions with reference to the death of 


| their pastor, Rev. James B. Tyler, were passed 


by the whole audience rising: 


RESOLVED, That in the death of our young 
pastor, Rev. James Brainerd Tyler, who died 
May 28th, 1872, aged 30 years, after a ministry 
of only eight months, we would submissively 
recognize the dealings of the great Head of 
of the Church. While we wonder that one so 
highly cultured, so keen in intellectual percep- 
tions, so masterly in thought, and withal so 
true, pure, self-sacrificing and pious, should 
be removed from the work into which he had 
entered with all the powers of his mind and 
the affection of his heart, we thank God that 
his precious ministrations were among us, and 
pray that He, by His Holy Spirit, will lengthen 





04. MEMORIAL OF THE 


them out, to the good of this people and the 
glory of His own great name. This was a 
workman that needed not to be ashamed—a 
teacher of the way of God in truth, who, by 
the manliness of his character, the sweetness 
of his temper, and the Catholicity of his faith, 
won the confidence, the affection, and the ad- 
miration of all who came in contact with him, 
assuring them that he had been with Jesus 
and learned of him. . 


RESOLVED, That we sympathize with the 
parents and sisters of our beloved friend and 
pastor in their sore bereavement, and com- 
mend them in our prayers to the tenderness 
of Him who has said, “ Blessed are they that 
mourn.” 


RESOLVED, Thata copy of these Resolutions 
be furnished the parents of the deceased, and 
copies be sent the “ Norwich Courier” and the 
“ Boston Congregationalist,” for publication. 


Joun J. Copp, Clerk of the Church. 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 95 


SERMONS. 


THE FATHER REJOICING OVER THE 
PENITENT PRODIGAL. 


LUKE Xv. 20, 21. 


“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, 
and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son.” 

Ir I were admitted into a gallery to study 
a masterpiece of landscape painting, and if I 
had determined to know that painting thor- 
oughly, to understand, if possible, the artist’s 
full meaning and enter into all his thoughts, I 
should not put an end to my research until I 
had separately traced out every brush-stroke 
upon the whole canvas and learned the pur- 
pose of it, and become acquainted with the 
subtle characteristics of the master’s hand, 





96 MEMORIAL OF THE — 


and discerned the composition and effect of 
every tint of color. But I would not do this 
at first. 1 would not begin with these details, 
lest after I had learned them all I should not 
know what the whole picture was: The first 
things observed should be the few great masses 
of matter, of light, of shade, of color —and 
where they lie, and how they are related one 
to another—these towering cliffs casting cold 
shadow across the foreground, that broad 
midland at rest in golden light, those moun- 
tains blue and capped with snow, those beds 
of clouds—what are they? why are they? to 
what effect lie all these where they do? How 
do they affect each other? and, above all, 
what unifying idea makes the picture, not a 
mere collection of interesting things, but the 
embodiment of a single thought, that speaks 
to my heart and makes it wiser? These are 
the questions that I should consider first; and 
not till afterwards do I step nearer, to study 
that human figure in the shadow gazing 
thoughtfully out through the brightness of 
the earth into the blue beyond the moun- 
tains; and not till still afterwards do I come 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 97 


close and study little lines and spots of pig- 
ment. . 

In like manner should I study a book, a po- 
em ora parable—the masses first—the great 
points and leading thoughts, their unity and 
relative subordination ; and not till afterwards 
the little suggestions, embellishments, and 
delicate turnings of the expression. These lat- 
ter may be just noticed as we read, but they 
must not be searched for or dwelt upon at 
first. A person who takes a parable word by 
word, beginning at the first verse and follow- 
ing through in order to the last, dissecting, 
weighing, commenting at length on each, is 
like one who should begin the study of a pic- 
ture by dividing its surface into little squares, 
numbering them in order, and completely ex-_ 

“amining each with a microscope before going 
to the next. He would know a great deal 
about the picture, but he never would know 
the picture. Minute and painstaking study is 
necessary before one can say he fully under- 
stands; and his close examination perhaps 
will help him in correctly viewing the great 

features, provided he has appreciated before- 





98 MEMORIAL OF THE 


hand which are the great features and what — 
their power is; but otherwise it will only lead 
his thoughts off into a maze of tritles. 7 
Perhaps no class of writings have suffered 
so much by this mechanical, unappreciative 
mode of study as the books of the Old and 
New Testaments; and perhaps no passages 
have suffered more than the parables of our 
Lord. One sentence is taken and pressed into 
service to teach everything that such a sen- 
tence under any circumstances could teach; 
then the next sentence is treated in the same 
manner, and so on, until, when we ask, after 
it is all done, “‘ What does this parable teach ?” 
“Why, it teaches everything.” ‘ And what 
does that other parable teach?” “ That 
teaches everything too.” The consequence 
is that each picture of the great Artist is un- 
derstood as being, not a composition, but a 
mere mustering together within one frame of 
a multitude of objects, each well painted, per- 
haps, but having no principle of arrangement 
or subordination, no perspective, no one great — 
idea served by the rest, and therefore of but 
little interest—though perhaps we make the 














KEV. FAMES BRAINERD, TYLER. 99 


parable more “instructive” (after our sort) 
even than its Author meant it to be. 

The so-called “Parable of the Prodigal 
Son,” to the first part of which we sball soon 
turn our attention, has suffered in this way 
less than most others, but it has suffered se- 
verely. Its meaning was too plain to be en- 
tirely lost through the ingenuity of commen- 
tators, and men have not been heartless 
enough quite to explain away its touching 
lesson. 

During one of our Lord’s journeys, he was 
continually in company with publicans and 
sinners: rascally tax-gatherers, thieves, black- 
guards, prostitutes, and all sorts of outcasts 
from respectable society, went with him to 
hear his words. The excellent scribes and 
Pharisees murmured, saying, “This man re- 
ceiveth sinners and eateth with them.” Here 
was their accusation—that he was encour- 
aging the vilest classes by associating with 
them. He answers his accusers. By three 
parables he defends his conduct, not by call- 
ing his accusers hypocrites, which in this par- 
ticular case perhaps they were not; nor by 








100 MEMORIAL OF THE 


showing that these outcasts were not after all 
any worse than those who loathed them so, 
which perhaps would not be true; but by 
showing that their lost estate was the very 
reason why God was desirous to save them. 
This is the key-note of all the three parables. 
If it is not, they are not an anwer to the Phar- 
isees, and were not worth the speaking. 

Christ’s first answer is by the parable which 
tells of a shepherd who, having lost one out 
of his flock of a hundred sheep, seeks the lost, 
finds it, and rejoices over it more than over 
the ninety-nine, not because it was a better 
sheep, but for the mere reason that he had 
found a Jost one. Here, then, is his answer to 
the scribes—that God is glad to save the lost, 
for the very reason that they are lost and 
need him. And then, as a second part, or ap- 
pendix to the parable, he delicately reproves 
them by saying that the angels in heaven 7e- 
jowe rather than complain, over the saving of 
a sinner, being in sympathy with God in his 
rejoicing, as the Pharisees are not. 

His second answer is the same, only pre- 
sented by a different illustration. A woman 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. IOI 


loses one out of her ten pieces of silver, lights 
a candle, sweeps the house, finds the coin, 
and rejoices over it more than over the nine, 
not because it is a better coin, but for the 
mere reason that she has found a lost one. 
The point of the answer is just here again— 
That God is glad to save the lost, for the very 
reason that they are lost and need him. And 
then, as a second part to the parable, he re- 
proves them as before by telling how the an- 
gels sympathize with God in this feeling, as 
the Pharisees do not. 

His third answer is the same, only present- 
ed by a different illustration. A man loses 
one of his sons, but when he finds him again, 
he rejoices more over him than over his 
brother, not because it is a better son, but for 
the mere reason that he had found the lost 
one. The point of the answer is just here 
again—that God is glad to save the lost, for 
the very reason that they are lost and need 
him. And then, as an appendix, or second 
part to the parable, Jesus reproves the Phari- 
sees as before, but this time more distinctly— 
for he draws out at length before them the 








102 MEMORIAL OF THE 


conduct of the son who remained so dutifully 
at home. ; | 

The great leading thought, then, in each of 
these parables is the gladness of God to save 
the lost. That is the key to the unity of each; 
—lose it, and you can only understand the 
parable in bits, you cannot understand it as a 
whole. 

And the principal among the ideas subor- 
dinate to this leading one is in each of the 
parables the same—a reproof to the spirit of 
the complaining Pharisees—which reproof is 
added in each case as a subordinate second 
part at the end. 

Let us now drop the consideration of this 
second part and confine ourselves to the por- 
tion which contains the master-thought of all. 
And, in this section, again let us be true to our 
principle and look for the ruling ideas first, 
leaving particulars till later. 

Now the son’s wayward spirit, his dissi- 
pated living, his misery, his penitence, and 
his father’s joy at his return—these, at a glance, 
are seen to be the most prominent points; 
and the last of them—the father’s joy—has al- 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 103 


ready been seen to be the chief of all. Under 
this chief how are the rest arranged in rank? 
They are all preparatory, in their order, to 
bringing out the climax of the whole—to the 
showing of the father’s joy. The son’s way- 
ward desire to be his own master prepares us 
for his period of dissipation; this in turn pre- 
pares us for his destitution and misery; these 
again prepare us to see his penitence, and this 
brings us naturally to the crowning point of 
the narrative, the father’s joyful reception of 
him. Now, the thought that is introduced to 
prepare for a following thought, is itself of 
less importance than the one which it pre- 
pares us for. So, then, we know the order of 
emphasis and of importance which the parts 
of this passage have ;—chief above all, the 
father’s joy ; second, the son’s penitence; 
third, his misery; fourth, his dissipation, and 
lastly, his waywardness in youth. 

Now I have opened the subject in the way 
I have, partly for the purpose of mentioning 
the method which we should generally pursue 
in studying the parables, but more particu- 
larly for the purpose of making it evident that 


















































104 MEMORIAL OF THE 


the truths which I shall set forth are not those 
of my own contriving, but are based upon the 
words of Christ ;—and upon those words, not 
taken in some fanciful and far-fetched sense, 
but in the very sense in which they were ac- 
tually spoken, and with the very same ideas 
made prominent which our Lord himself 
made prominent. I shall invite your atten- 
tion to the two features in the picture which 
the Artist meant to be the chiefest in rank,— 
the rejoicing of the father, and the penitence 
of the son. | 
But let us review the story itself. A man 
had two sons. The younger takes it into his 
head that it would be a fine thing to live for 
himself and take care of himself, without the 
restrictions that a wise. father puts around 
him. His imagination pictures the pleasant 
times he would have if he could do as he 
pleases. His father, when asked, gives him 
the power to do so, and he willingly goes 
forth to enjoy the world. He seeks a coun- 
try far out of reach of home. There he gives 
himself up to following his own inclination 
whithersoever it might lead him. He hada 











REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 105 


good time of it, and spent his property in it. 
« And when he had spent all, there arose a 
mighty famine in that land; and he began to 
be in want.” His pleasures were over, and 
now he must look out for his necessities. He 
joined himself to a citizen of that country, 
who sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
The independence which he imagined he 
could gain by leaving home, was done with, 
and now for the most abject dependence. His 
appetite became so sharp that he ate with 
relish the carob-pods that the swine did eat, 
yet no man gave him any food. Then his 
thoughts went homewards—‘ Why, the very 
servants in my father’s house have more than 
they can eat, and J am perishing with hun- 
ger.’ (Now there are various ways in which 
the story might have been told). He thought 
the matter over and over again, and finally he 
said to himself, ‘I will arise and go to my 
father, and say, Father, this life that I have 
chosen is a failure; I thought it would prove 
a pleasant one, and I find it is not; I see that 
I have made a mistake, and so I have come 
home again to live with you as formerly; 
6 








100 MEMORIAL OF THE 





for here I know I shall be comfortable at 
last.’ 

That is a way in which the story might 
have been told; but not so did Jesus tell it. 
The son was not so hardened as that. He 
did not approach his father with a cool as- 
surance that, since he had found his other 
mode of life unhappy, he had come home to 
make himself happy in another way. That 
would have been the word of a purely selfish 
heart, disappointed in one experiment and 
now ready to try a more hopeful one, seeking 
self only, without a breath of honorable feel- 
ing or even of common human shame. Men 
often seek God in just that way—or still more 
often calculate that they will some day seek 
him in that way. They say to themselves, 
‘This life of pleasure will not last forever, we ~ 
suppose. Well, we expect to have something 
better some time. When the pleasures of this 
world begin to grow stale, or when they sud- 
denly leave us, we are happy to know that in 
our Father’s house even the servants fare 
well; we shall return there, then, and live 
with him; then we shall have enough, and 





REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 107 


shall enjoy the close of life, die at peace and 
respected by our neighbors, and have a joyful 
eternity besides.” Shame upon the thought! 
—dishonor to think that plan possible !—to 
serve our selfishness in the earth expecting to 
change in the nick of time to serve our selfish- 
ness in heaven. If a man’s idea of worldly 
life is to use God’s blessings for his own pur- 
poses, let not his idea of religion be to use 
God for his own purposes. When a person 
says, “Il am not ready to leave my unchristian 
course just now ; but, indeed, I hope to become 
a capital Christian some time,’’—he belongs 
to the class we are now describing. Let him 
not deceive himself; that saying of his means 
nothing else than this,—‘‘ I have not yet spent 
all my substance in sin; but when I have, or 
perhaps before I have spent all, I hope to go 
and get fresh pleasures to myself in God’s 
house.” And God’s mercy is so great that 
he does sometimes allow that hope to be real- 
ized !—though not so frequently as men think, 
and never until that despicable feeling has 
been bitterly repented of. But suppose that 
we might have our way, take pleasure in 





108 “MEMORTAL. OF. THEE, 


worldliness as long as that can last, and 
then slip into heaven without caring for any- 
thing in it higher than our own comfort— 
suppose this were possible, can it be that we 
are so blinded by our sin as not to see that — 
it is contemptible ? 

But let us go back to the prodigal son. 
He said, “ How many hired servants of my 
father’s have bread enough and to spare, and 
I perish with hunger.” ‘I will arise and go 
to my father, and will say, Father, I have 
done wrong: and yet receive me ‘back, for, 
believe me, I have not been so very bad; I 
have respected thy name and memory, I 
have not ceased to recall thy kindness to me; 
the money that I spent—I remembered that 
it was from thee. I ought to have been more 
prudent—yes, I ought to have been more up- 
right, but I am not so lost to decency that 
thou canst not rightly receive me. Forgive 
me, then, | pray thee; and let me be thy son 
again.’ 

That is a way in which the story might 
have been told; but not in that way did our 
Teacher tell it. The son did not come con- 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TVLER. 109 


fessing some faults and assuring his father 
that his faults were few. That would have 
been the way of a heart not entirely hardened 
and yet entirely selfish—not quite deadened 
to all honorable considerations, and yet not 
_ esteeming them so highly as his own comfort 
and self-esteem. Men often stand thus before 
God. They know that they are wrong, they 
will not be offended if you. tell them so, and 


they will readily confessit. But not so very 
wrong, they think—‘‘ No worse than So-and- 
so, whom every body likes; no worse than 
that other man who makes loud pretensions 
to religion.” They are ready to confess thus 
much to God, and ask him to forgive their 
shortcomings with the understanding that 
their shortcomings are not great. Sometimes | 
they do not quite see why God cannot pardon 
them, since there is so much good in them 
which he could have for his own simply by 
overlooking a little evil. But such men have 
no idea what sin is—or what their own sin is. 
Theirs is not repentance, but only an easy re- 
gret, and that half-smothered by their pride. 
It does not make them uncomfortable, be- 








1IO MEMORIAL OF THE 


cause whenever they think of their faults, they 
can at once console themselves with their — 
good qualities. To remind them of their 
faults is likely to be of no benefit, because it 
in the end only sets them to thinking how 
good they are for all their faults. In order 
that people may waken to reform, it is neces- 
sary that they feel their deep need of it; but 
what hope of reform in those whom every at- 
tempt to show them their need only makes 
them more pleased with themselves ? 

But again let us return to the prodigal son. 
‘I will arise,’ said he, ‘and go to my father, 
and say, Father, I have sinned; I have been 
very bad, 1 will not try to deny it; I have 
been worse than I had any idea a son could 
be; and now I pray thee pardon me; for re- 
member what my temptations were—l was 
young, and thou knowest how hot one’s blood 
is then; I was unacquainted with the world, 
I supposed its pleasures to be greater and 
cheaper than I have found them; this steady 
life at home is best, I know, and now I long 
for it again; but then I thought I could do 
better; I did not believe in thy wisdom, I 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. Let 


wronged thee, | wronged heaven, I wronged 
myself; but now I have returned again, will- 
ing to do thee service and so atone for my 
shortcomings; I am not all broken down; 
give me the opportunity, and I can earn 
enough to pay off all that I have taken from 
Eee.’ 

That is a way in which the story might 
have been told; but not in that way did our 
Saviour tell it. The son did not try to bring 
a partial excuse for his sin, by pleading his 
ignorance and strong temptation; nor did he 
profess himself able, if time were given, to 
pay off his debt. If any excuse existed, he 
was not in the mood of mind to plead it; if 
he was able to do good service, his thoughts 
were not upon that, but on his wickedness. 
But thus men often do come before God— 
often ?—nay, almost every sinner that ac- 
knowledges his guilt, at first wants to excuse 
- alittle of it; and when he has given up that, 
he wants to have God understand that noth- 
ing will be lost by pardoing him,—for he will 
work and pay for his deficiency, he will work 
in advance of pardon, and cancel part of the 


LIZ MEMORIAL OF THE 


debt, so that there need not be so much 
forgiven. It is man’s pride that speaks so, 
though it seems to be the honest desire of 
making amends. There is something more 
than a debt to be paid off—there has been a 
wrong done—a flagrant, deep and crying 
wrong. Make a clean breast of it, bring no 
excuses, say nothing about settling for an in- 
sult by paying money or by doing service, 
confess it from the bottom of your heart, it 
shall be forgiven promptly; afterwards, if you 
wish to make amends, do what you can; but 
your Father will never mention any old debt 
for you to pay. 

But let us look at that prodigal son. 
“When he came to himself,-he said)... 21 
will arise and go to my father, and will say 
unto him, Father, I have sinned, against heav- 
en and in thy sight, and am no more worthy 
to be called thy sou; make me as one of thy 
hired servants.” | 

That was repentance—and that is the way 
our Saviour told the story. Not a word of 
self-justification, not a thought of making up 
for the past—but “I have sinned, and am no 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 113 


more worthy to be called thy son.” Yet he 
does not forget his pressing need—he is per- 
ishing with hunger, and must have the neces- 
sities of life; he will not ask his wronged fa- 
ther to give them to him; if he may only 
have a chance to earn them, he feels that his 
father will have done for him more than he 
deserved. 

But though it was his forlorn condition that 
first awoke him to see his wickedness, now 
the sense of his wickedness and need of par- 
don is become the most prominent of all— 
howbeit the gnawings of his hunger will not 
let him forget that he must ask his father for 
something more than pardon. Nor is it to 
one of his old friends that he will go; but, 
as a true penitent always does, he will go 
straight to the person whom he has wronged, 
and his first sentence will be one of confes- 
sion. Such was his determination. 

And he arose and came to his father’s 
house, told who he was—for in ‘his filth and 
rags he was not recognized by the servants— 
asked to see his father, and was left standing 
at the door while the servant carried the mes- 

6* 


114 MEMORIAL OF THE 


sage in. “Take my son with you,” was the 
father’s bidding, “ wash him and clothe him, 
and when he is fit to appear, bring him to 
me.’ And when they brought him, his father 
met him very calmly, but not without kind- 
ness in his voice, took him by the hand, led 
him to a seat, and said, “ My son, I am glad 
to see you at home again,—but in what a 
plight! How is it?—tell me.” “Father, I 
have sinned, against heaven and in thy sight, 
and am no more worthy to be called thy son; 
make me as one of thy hired servants.” “ But 
tell me where thou hast been, and what hast 
thou been doing?” So the son recounted 
briefly the history of his wandering. Then 
after a pause his father answered, “ My son, I 
forgive thee all thy wrong; and I heartily de- 
sire to restore thee—but can I trust thee p— 
dost thou not see that I ought to require pro- 
bation of thee first?” So the father proposed 
to receive him on trial for three months; after 
which, if the son seemed to be fixed in his 
good determination, he should be restored to 
the fulness of his father’s favor. But at the 
end of the first month, the father, whose affec- 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. I15 


tion could wait no longer, called the house- 
hold together, and in the presence of them all 
restored his son to his place of honor, and for- 
bade that his wandering should be mentioned 
any more. 

That was a kind father, and that was a hap- 
py son. But it is not in that way that our 
Saviour told the story. When that returning 
son “was yet a great way off, his father saw 
him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on 
his neck and kissed him. And the son said, Fa- 
ther, I have sinned, against heaven and in thy 
sight, and am no more worthy to be called 
’ But he could go no further—in the 
presence of such a father’s love he could not 


thy son.’ 


add anything about being a hired servant. 
The thought of earning anything, or even of 
having his hunger supplied, faded out of his 
heart in the fulness of his pardon. We might 
expect him to be glad, but his father was 
more glad than he. We led him home. He 
called to the servants, ‘‘ Bring forth the best 
robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on 
his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring 
hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us 


116 MEMORIAL OF THE 


eat, and be merry ; for this my son was dead, 
and is alive again: he was lost, and is found.” 

My friends, our Father is more glad to re- 
ceive us than we are to be received. His 
eagerness is the thing that the parable teaches 
above all else. Indeed, he is not so foolishly 
eager as to receive those who, unrepenting, 
come home merely to make something by it; 
but those who return in hearty sorrow for 
their wandering, he will run forth and meet a 
long way off. And then the feast,—it is not 
made simply to please the son, but to express 
the father’s joy at finding him. If, by some 
not so very strange bewilderment, the son 
does not himself enter into the gladness of the 
occasion, it is but little matter; he is his Fa- 
ther’s son, returned and reinstated. It is his 
father’s feast. 

Now see a point of difference between that 
son and us. He did not know the father’s 
gladness to receive him until he came and 
tested it; he did not know but his father 
would meet him with a frown, give a beggar’s 
portion and send him on his way; and yet 
that son trusted himself to his father, and 











REV, AMES BRAINERD TYLER. 117 


found him forward to be merciful. But we 
know beforehand that the Father will receive 
us; and yet we will not trust him ! 

Or, do you say that the son trusted his 
father only because he could do no better— 
he must either starve or be received at home? 
Can you do better?—can you do better than 
to do right? Do not treat this as a mere 
matter of trade. If you do, you make the 
worst sort of a bargain when you take the 
world instead of your Father. But this isa 
matter of honor—and of right. Even if the 
prodigal had not been hungry in that foreign 
land, it would have been dishonorable to stay 
there. But come and say, ‘Father, I have: 
sinned; I am not worthy.’ Make no ex- 
cuses; you shall be welcomed. 

Or, will you wait to be starved to it? That 
is not necessary. Repentance is necessary, 
but not famine. Yet some men are so stupid, 
and most men are so stubborn, that they will 
not confess their wrong until fright or dire 
calamity enforces them. Let it not be so with 
you. But come and say, “Il am no more 
worthy to be called thy son.”’ You shall not 







not venturing to think of having a son’s plac 
yet a son’s place was given him. sa 

And more than all, your Father does not _ 
even wait for you to be starved and come; — 3 
he calls you! “He that hath an ear, let him ~ 
hear.” . } ag 


re — 


oe 








KEV, FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 119g 


TWO STAGES IN CHRISTIAN LIFE. 


PSALM i. 1; 2. 


“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of 
the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor ,sitteth 
in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law ot 
the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” 


In other words, ‘“ Blessed is the man who 
obeys the law of God, and not only obeys it, 
but delights in it.” 

For there can be two different stages of the 
godly lfe—that where duty rules, and that 
where love -rules—or, rather (since duty and 
love are but different phases of the same 
thing), there is a stage where the ruling prin- 
ciple is considered in the light of a duty, 
binding the man’s will like a debt—a debt 
willingly contracted and paid—and there is a 
stage where the ruling principle is felt as love, 
sweeping the will and the deeds of a whole 
man along before its overwhelming current. 

Theoretically, I say, there can be these two 
stages; for I will not now speak of them as 


120 MEMORIAL OF THE 


something in fact appearing. Let that.come 
later, and let me first more particularly ex- 
plain my meaning, by an illustration from 
what does in fact take place. 

A boy enters a new school with a deter- 
mination to be faithful and observe the rules. 
He knows nothing of the teacher, except 
that she is the teacher, and has a right to be 
obeyed. He cares nothing for the rules, ex- 
cept that they are the rules, and ought to be 
obeyed. So he scrupulously attends to duty. 
The teacher’s commands and the require- 
ments of the rules he tries to keep, though it 
is a great hardship, and though he sometimes 
fails. If the natural playfulness of a boy’s 
mind tempts him towards fun in the place of 
study, he resolutely, and by force, sets his 
mind upon his book. — If difficulties discour- 
age him, he keeps his crying to himself, and 
sets his teeth, and pounds his way through 
them. If he is too tired or ill to work well, 
he does not offer even the excuse that he 
might fairly offer, but stands by his work like 
a soldier. His school days are not quite so 
happy as some boys’, because he learns with 








KEV. FAMES BRAINERD TVLER. 121 


difficulty, and is almost a stranger to the 
teacher, and hardly dares to ask the help he 
needs ; he often gets down-hearted ; and now 
and then he breaks a rule, which makes him 
sorry, when most of the boys would not have 
cared, except for being found out. He makes 
some progress, and that encourages him; but 
it is slowly, and that discourages him; and 
sometimes he finds himself at the point of 
wishing he could leave the school; but he 
stops that thought by reminding himself that 
it is his duty to remain. Duty, duty, duty— 
that is the word that he keeps repeating to 
himself—not because it is a pleasant word— 
he does not delight in it—but because he has 
made up his mind to do his duty because it is 
duty, and that’s enough. Yet duty is a bur- 
den; and though his days are happy on the 
whole, the oppression of this thought of duty 
keeps one sad note sounding drearily straight 
through all the music of his life. He knows 
it is all his own doing that it is so; that is, he 
can throw duty away any time he will; but 
he will not. He will drudge along, Jet come 
of it what may. 


122 MEMORIAL OF THE 


But after a time a different state of things 
commences. By steady attention to his les- 
sons, the lessons themselves begin to be a lit- _ 
tle more interesting ; by constant observance 
of the rules, the rules not only grow easier, 
but he begins to like them pretty well, or at 
least he does not dislike them, as at first; and 
by yielding to the teacher’s wishes because 
he ought to, he gradually gets to yielding be- 
cause he likes to. And the teacher, too, be- 
gins to take more notice of the boy who is so 
faithful—she oftener goes by his desk to see 
how he is getting along, and help him through 
his trouble, and speaks a cheering word ; and 
on the street she bows to him just a little 
more smilingly than to some others, not be- 
cause she means to, but because she cannot 
help it. Now the rules become a good deal 
easier to obey ; and his mind doesn’t require 
so much will-power to keep it on the lesson; 
and the lessons become, first, pleasanter, and 
then easier because pleasanter, and then fast- 
er and better learned because easier; and 
when the boy comes against a difficulty, he 
feels freer to ask about it ifthere is need, [and, 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 123 


more ashamed to ask when there is no need, 
and he can break through it himself]. Keep- 
ing the rules and studying well and becom- 
ing better acquainted with the teacher, make 
him keep the rules and study better and like 
the teacher more. And the more he likes 
her, the more he catches her enthusiasm and 
deep interest in the work of the school. 
Why, when he first came, he did not even 
notice that she had any such interest, but 
supposed her activity was only because it 
was her duty to make the boys study, and 
to enforce the rules. But now her very pre- 
sence and manner seem to throw new life © 
into him and light upon his lessons. And so 
on continually ; his success in study and his 
good behavior, and his love for the teacher, 
and his happiness, grow up side by side, and 
make each other grow—till, by-and-by, this 
is the happiest boy in school, and the sound- 
est scholar, and the best behaved, and the 
heartiest at his play, and the best friend of 
the teacher; and he can’t help obeying the 
rules and learning his lessons—and he hasn't 
thought of duty for a whole term. 


124 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Now, I say there are two quite different 
stages in that boy’s school life—the duty- 
stage and the love-stage. Both are good, 
but the second is by far the better. In the 
second stage, his love for the teacher makes 
duty easy and pleasant and well performed, 
though it is not thought of as duty; and it 
enables the teacher’s influence, with unseen 
power, like a magnet, to rouse up strength in 
him, and to lead him in the best way, not as 
a moping servant, but as a cheerful friend. 
In the earlier stage, the boy followed duty 
willingly and drearily, courageously and sadly, 
like a hero suffering martyrdom without mur- 
muring, rather than like a hero bursting vic- 
toriously through obstacles for love’s sake. 

The same two stages are in a Christian’s 
life. In the lower one, doing right seems a 
duty, and he calls it a privilege only by way 
of compliment; in the higher, doing right is 
a privilege, and he names it duty only when 
speaking for others’ sake, and then the word 
“duty” means “ privilege” in his own mind. 
During the period of duty-service, rules are 
the prominent things before him; during the 








KEV. JAMES BRAINERD, TYVLER. 125 


period of love-service, he does’nt see many 
rules, but he sees Christ. During the former 
he wills to do right, and does it, on the whole; 
during the latter he relishes to do right, and 
does it almost entirely. The former state is 
one of drudging labor according to a law, 
with patient endurance, dogged resolution, 
and not much joy; the latter state is one of 
still more perfect behavior, out of love to 
everybody, and loyalty to the person of 
Christ, hearty and full of cheer. In the 
former, a man is willing to submit to God’s 
wishes, in the latter, he wishes just what God 
does. Inthe former he keeps the law, “ walk- 
ing not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor 
standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in 
the seat of the scornful;’ but in the latter, 
his word is, “Oh, how love I thy law! it is 
my meditation day and night.” 

_ These, therefore, being the two stages of a 
Christian’s life, of course the state of love- 
service is the higher, and comes not till after 
that of duty-service. A boy does not fully feel 
the power of the teacher’s personality on the 
first day. Such interest in a lesson as comes 





126 MEMORIAL OF THE 


from its novelty, and such liking for a teacher 
as one takes at first sight, cannot be depended — 
on to carry the pupil through the tempta- 
tions to unfaithfulness, and the perplexities, 
and the temporary defeats that are to come. 

But the interest in study that grows with the 

growth of understanding, and the love that 
close acquaintance and hard service bring, 

furnish that power that will not faint at 
evil. | 

And, furthermore, these qualities cannot be 

genuine unless they begin their growth at 

duty. Let no one attempt to learn the higher 

service by skipping over the lower. It will 

result in wretched failure. It would be like 

entering college before learning to read. Let 
no one think that, because duty is not much 

thought of when one gets above it, therefore 

he can get above it by not thinking much of 
it. The only way to go above it, is to go up 

through it. ‘The only way to feel the steady 

power of God’s love, so that we can scarcely 

do anything but right, is to begin by doing 

right w2lfully—forcing ourselves to it, if need 

be, in spite of weariness, or ill success, or pain. 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 127 


Learn first to reverence duty above pleasure, 
or possessions, or friends, or life itself; and 
then you shall be free from it while still 
conformed to it. How soon would the boy 
come into those close and quickening per- 
sonal relations with his teacher, if he began 
by disregarding duty and trying to admire 
the teacher while neglecting the rules, and 
gazing upon her fervently instead of studying 
his lesson? He would be sent away from 
school first. How soon will you become so 
filled with loyalty to God as not to need the 
thought of duty, if you begin by disregard- 
ing duty while you try to raise yourself into 
communion with Him by some mystic gazing 
or artificial exaltation? God will repudiate 
you from his kingdom first. 

I know a man who has a great deal to say 
abcut his nearness and love to God; his lofty 
experiences above most other men; his meet- 
ings, and his dear brethren who feel like him; 
but he will not hesitate to slander you behind 
your back, or to stir up a quarrel in his 
church, or to abuse his family with a stinging 
tongue. Let a man first be brought under 


128 MEMORIAL OF THE - 





the rule of duty, and then we will hear about ~ 
his love. The path to the higher Christian — 
experience, is through the lower Christian 
experience. We get free from the bonds of 
duty only by serving a good apprenticeship 
under duty first. But the short-cut to per- 
fection is like the short-cut to ‘Serna it 
does not bring you there. 

Now, this apprenticeship to duty arate 1S. 
it but a process of self-consecration? It is 
the practice of duty, without regard to plea- 
sant or unpleasant consequences. That in- 
cludes a constant giving-up of one’s natural 
preferences for the sake of higher considera- 
tions—a setting of one’s self apart from the 
pleasing of self to the pleasing of God, and 
from the pleasing of the world to the blessing 
of the world. Self-consecration is a prime 
condition, without which there can be no 
higher Christian life—or any Christian life. 
But there is a difference between a mental 
and a practical consecration. I may fully de- 
termine now to give up my hopes and life to 
God and duty, making no reservations or 
conditions. That is mental consecration, and 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 129 


by it we enter the Christian life. But still 
my thoughts and-doings may, in fact, not all 
be according to the law of God and duty. 
If they were, that would be practical conse- 
cration, which belongs to the higher grade of 
life. And this, like all other practical things, 
must be learned by practice. That practice 
is the apprenticeship to duty. It is going on 
during my days of hard struggling with sin 
and troubles. I am learning by actual prac- 
tice, what I have already learned the theory 
of—to avoid all evil deeds, to do good deeds, 
and to endure hardships, injuries, and all sor- 
rows, with manly patience, as required by my 
divine Master. In proportion as this work 
becomes complete—in proportion as my con- 
secration becomes practical, so as to include 
all my thoughts, and all my acts, and all my 
hopes and wishes, I become free from my 
apprenticeship, and enter the higher grade of 
life. 

From what has now been said, it becomes 
evident that the higher life, as here defined, 
overlaps the lower—or, in other words, that 
the transition from the lower to the higher is 

Vi 


130 MEMORIAL OF THE 


gradual. That boy did not go to school some 
morning a dull scholar and a slave to duty, 
and then, just as the clock struck eleven, 
suddenly transform himself into an enthu- 
siastic lover of his teacher and his books. 
Almost from the first day there were mo- 
ments when he took pleasure in his lessons, 
and, forgetting duty, obeyed the teacher by 
an impulse of loyalty. These irregular occa- 
sions became more frequent, until glad and 
spontaneous doing right was easier than any- 
thing else; and the cases where hedid it asa 
painful duty, became the exception, and grad- 
ually became rare ones. No one can name 
the week, or the month—and, perhaps, not 
the term—when the change in him took place. 
It was taking place all the time. Neither can 
we say with certainty when the change was 
perfectly complete, nor is it important that 
we should. The change is none the less real 
because we cannot draw the line. Is day, 
night ?—but you cannot draw the line be- 
tween them. wall 

The same with Christian hfe. From the 
first, there are times when one is dwelling on. 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 131 


the higher grade—short times, rare times; 
but if we hold faithfully to duty, these blessed 
seasons, like spots of clear blue in a cloudy 
sky, will become more numerous and larger, 
until they run together; and soon the heav- 
ens, from zenith to horizon, will not be dark- 
ened by a cloud. Practical consecration is 
built up by repeating actions, as character 
always is; and that is why it is attained to 
gradually. Each action of the mind _ sin- 
cerely renewing its vow of self-denial, each 
pious thought or desire, each act of right- 
eousness (the costlier the better), helps on the 
growth of the higher life as surely as the 
learning of each lesson helps to make a 
scholar, or the laying of each stone helps to 
build God a temple. 

But now let me present a caution. Do not 
suppose that gradual means slow. It does 
not follow, because the higher life grows out 
of the lower by degrees, that it, therefore, 
must take a long time to reach it. It does 
not follow, because we ascend to an upper 
story one stair at a time, that we need to be 
amonth ascending. It doesnot follow, because 


132 MEMORIAL OF THE 


the stage of love-service cannot be reached 
by a leap, that we need to be thirty or fifty 
years attaining it. It is our own fault if it 
takes any such length of time. It need take 
little, if we are diligent. How long, I could 
not say—a few years at most, a few months, 
perhaps, might be sufficient ; and if one says 
it can be in a few days, I would not contra- 
dict him, but I should want the strongest evi- 
dence of it. I only insist on this—that the 
change, being a thing of spiritual education, 
must take some space of time for growth, but 
I do not say a long time. I will not now deny 
that there may be an instantaneous “ sanctifi- 
cation;” I express no opinion on that point: 
but anything instantaneous is not an educa- 
tion, and does not belong to the subject of 
the present discourse. A gradual change 
may be very rapid, and seem: almost instan- 
taneous, because you do not observe it accu- 
rately. In a bright day, it seems that the 
passage out of a shadow into the sunlight is 
not gradual; but when you look closely at 
the edge of a shadow, you find that it is not 
marked off by a distinct line, but fades out 





| 





REV. JAMES. BRAINERD. TYLER. Les 


gradually. I will not, therefore, deny that 
the entrance upon the higher stage of living 
may, in some cases, be very quick; and I will 
not try to decide what is the shortest or the 
longest time that it will take, or to settle any 
other such delicate and useless questions. 
But I will declare, with emphasis—and none 
of you will say that | am wrong in this—that 
no one who has been a Christian twenty years, 
has any right to be a “babe in Christ.” Why 
have they not been growing up? Must it 
take longer for some to rise than for others? 
Truly it must, but not so long as that. What 
then ?. does any Christian reach perfection in 
this world, be it in twenty years, or one, 
or sixty? I do not say that he does; but 
he who does not in a score of years, or in 
a quarter of a score, make great advances 
into that higher service, stands convicted of 
shameful negligence. But have the. majority 
of Christians made such advances ?—and _ has 


the speaker himself, who is pressing the mat- 


ter sor—no matter about that: suppose that 
they have not; but can the multitude of the 
unfaithful furnish excuse for you unfaithful ? 


134 MEMORIAL OF THE 


for remember that in an old Christian the fail- 
ure of the higher life proves years of failure 
in that lower life of duty. 

Brethren, there may be a difference of opin- 
1on concerning the reality of such a higher 
life as comes in a moment, and is supported 
in some way that cannot be explained ; but if 
I have made clear what is the nature of that 
higher Christian experience that | am advo- 
cating, I do not believe there is but one opin- 
ion among you about its possibility and its 
blessedness. But if you do not believe in it, 
the result will be the same, if you follow zeal- 
ously in the way that you do acknowl- 
edge right. Be faithful in duty, be conse- 
crated to duty—keep nothing back from con- 
secration—and by the practice of duty you 
will surely arrive at that same higher expe- 
rience concerning which you are now in 
doubt. As fast as you have learned to keep 
the law, you will have a hearty and whole- 
souled delight in the law, and it will no longer 
be a law to you. 

But do not study duty as a mere abstract 
thing; for then you will not be successful in 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 135 


it, nor learn to love it. Duty is personified 
in God, and embodied in Christ. It will 
make a great difference if we leave that idea 
out. It is not merely duty, but it is our God’s 
command; and not only our God’s command, 
but our Father’s pleasure. Omit this view 
of the relations of duty to a personal being, 
and duty becomes more of a drudgery, more 
of a mystery, and leads one towards the high- 
er life more slowly. It would be as if the boy 
found only his books, and his rules framed on 
the wall, and no living teacher to inspire him. 
If we are to inspire ourselves, when shall we 
reach the higher life? Duty carried out 
with glad alacrity as beneath the eye of God 
our King, as a willing service to Christ our 
Friend and Saviour, by the inspiration of a 
personal nearness to our Teacher, the Holy 
Spirit, is a very different thing from duty un- 
_dertaken barely as duty, with a regretful 
groan even when we do it willingly. 

You never heard a lover say with regard 
to some service to his best loved one, “ Well, 
I suppose I must do it for her, for it is my 
That is not the way: but does she 


9 


duty. 


136 MEMORIAL OF THE 


want it done ?—then he wants to doit. He 
pleases himself by pleasing her. 

We please ourselves by pleasing Christ. 
Out of love to Him we do that which is duty, 
without caring to think whether it is duty; 
for if we were not bound to do it, we should 
do it just the same, for his sake. That is the 
feeling of him who does love-service ; for love, 
without offering any violence to duty, covers 
duty out of sight. 

It is only in proportion to our love that we 
can have a personal communion with our Sa- 
viour. It is only through that pupil’s affec- 
tion that the personality of the teacher takes 
effect upon him. Without that communion, 
we may learn some truth of Christ, and be- 
lieve it with all our mind and half our heart; 
but a union of ourself to Himself, so that His 
life flows into our life, there cannot be. Wa 
may be his true followers, but we follow him 
too far off. The opposite extremes of the ex- 
perience possible to a real Christian are very 
far apart—very high and very low. Be too 
ambitious, brethren, to stay contentedly in the 
dust. 














~ 


REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 137 


Yet before our Father’s face, and at the 
meetings of his saints, and at the table where 
they gather, all grades are welcome, poor 
scholars and good, if only they are deter- 
mined, without regard to consequences, to 
work in Christ’s service, and to stand on his 
side in the face of all the world. 


138 MEMORIAL OF THE 


REST IN CHRIST, 


MATTHEW xi. 28. 

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest.” 

WHEN Noah’s ark had floated forty days 
upon the flood and nothing could be seen but 
waters far and wide, he opened his window 
and sent forth a dove; and she, flying for rest 
over the broad face of the world, found no 
place for the sole of her foot, and wearily re- 
turned for shelter to the restless ark. Much 
like that, sometimes, we send our thoughts 
forth to seek repose for us; and over monoto- 
nous waters they fly, they fly, safe for a time 
upon their wings, but comfortless, because no 
solid standing-place appears in all this tumult 
of toils and perplexities—no rock or firm-set 
tree ;—and so they return to us to rest upon 
a support which is itself afloat and tossing. 
Such is all the repose of self-trust; and to 
those who cannot rely upon themselves, and 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 139 


yet have not found a foothold in Christ, their 


rest is like the dove’s rest on her wings in 


wind and rain, leaning on the gale among the 
scudding clouds, with only a surging of waves 
beneath her. But to such a one the voice of 
Christ speaks out of the distant gloom, ‘“‘Come 
MALONG!.-.. ss and I will Pine, yOu rest, 4 Fle 


speaks not loud, but clearly, through the roar- 


ing of the storm; he speaks from the repose 
of his own steady spirit, calmly (but with no 
lack of earnestness), ‘Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I[ will 
give you rest’’—rest !—“and I will give vou 
rest.” 

How many of us confessedly, and how many 
more than will confess it, are searching anx- 
iously for just this thing! And now the invi- 
tation is to come and partake of it,—rest for 
our wandering thoughts, not in their fainting 
wings, nor in our drifting selves, but in a 
place unmoved by gales or billows. 

It seems to me that if there were a soul toa 
sea-beaten rock, it must take a grim pleasure, 
lifting its head above the waves, without com- 
plaint allowing them to pound and thunder at 


140 MEMORIAL OF THE — 


~. eR 


its sides, and crush themselves and swallow 
up each other attempting to break through, 
while on its top a man may sit in peace and 
watch them, or read his book, or talk with his 

companions. What a deep, happy rest down 

in its inmost heart the rock must have !—the 

truer for the very reason that the waves are 

raging so, and the truer still because its rest 

is lent to the people who stand uponit. Firm 

like that rock, safe like that rock, peaceful 

within like it, our Saviour is, to whom we fly 

for rest; but not hard and grim lke the rock; 

he has a human heart, and divine understand- 

ing of our case. It is his own peace that he 
invites us to take part in; it is the peace of 
God; and he invites with official authority as 

the messenger of the Almighty Father, the 

Author of rest. 

This is not only true, but it is the truth 
which the Saviour himself brings out in the 
passage before us, as will be discovered if we 
examine the line of thought in the chapter. 
The: question is raised in the third verse, 
which after some delay and preparation is 
answered in the closing verses. The question 








REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. [AI 


is, ‘Art thou the appointed messenger of 
God ?—‘ Art thou he that should come, or 
do we look for another? The answer is, 
‘Yea, and I am he that giveth rest.’ The 
question was sent by John the Baptist from 
the prison where he lay. He had preached 
Jesus as the Messiah, but now began to doubt 
whether there might not be some mistake, 
when he heard that he was healing and teach- 
ing, rather than setting up the kingdom of 
God as a political and military power. Jesus 
sent back the answer by pointing to these 
very works of his which John had stumbled 
at, and by the word, “ Blessed is he whoso- 
ever shall not be offended in me.” It was as 
if he had said, ‘ Yes, John; my works are just 
such as thou hast heard of; but do not be 
disappointed, for these are the proper works 
of the Messiah.’ 

And when the messengers had departed, 
he again implied that he was the Messiah, by 
showing that his forerunner John was the 
last and greatest of the prophets. Then he 
accused the Jews of their captiousness and 
of their wicked indifference. Then he thanked 


142 MEMORIAL OF THE 


God that the truth was revealed to simple 
minds; then he comes to his answer who he 
was ;—“ All things are delivered unto me of 
my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, 
but the Father; neither knoweth any man the 
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever 
the Son will reveal him.” Thus claiming the 
lofty position of Son and Revealer of the Fa- 
ther, he urges them to receive his revelation 
and to receive rest, by sharing his own rest. 
Imagine the greatest of the apostles saying 
such words, and so by contrast see how great 
Christ’s claim is. Imagine Peter or Paul or 
John saying, ‘Come unto me, all ye that la- 
bor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
me; for lam meek and lowly in heart; and 
ye shall find rest unto your souls.” 

Who is it, then, that invites? It is the Son 
of God in God’s name. Whom does he in- 
vite? All who need,—not some, but all who 
are in trial and need rest. In what sort of 
trial? In every sort; the rest he promises is 
from all the misery of acting—which is ex- 
pressed by the term “all that labor,’—and 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 143 


from all the misery of enduring tribulation 
from without, which is expressed by the term 
“all that are heavy laden.’ The people in- 
vited are all who have trouble, from whatever 
source, within them or without. He invites 
those pressed with poverty and forced to a 
desperate struggle for food and clothing. 
He invites those apprehensive of the future, 
whose mind furnishes itself with present 
trouble by fearing trouble yet to come. He 
invites those disappointed in their worldly 
plans, or those pursuing worldly enterprises 
with féverish excitement. He invites the 
tired, the overworked, and those overloaded 
with cares manifold and unremitting. He in- 
vites us who are pestered by swarms of in- 
numerable annoyances, each one of which is 

too contemptible to speak of, but all which 
| together amount to an affliction that cannot 
be derided. He invites those distressed with 
bodily pain and sickness; and those who, 
either at an advanced age or earlier in life, 
are conscious of powers beginning to abate 
and the fresh vigor of other years now slowly 
waning. He invites those downtrodden un- 


144 MEMORIAL OF THE 


der tyranny by the civil power, and those op- 
pressed by selfish men who happen to hold 
them at a disadvantage, or by petty tyranny 
at home. He invites the bereaved, the wid- 
ow, the fatherless, all mourners, and the 
friendless. He invites those who are be- 
trayed by false friends and scheming advisers 
to the loss of their goods, or their reputation, 
or their honor. He invites the persecuted 
and the abused. He invites those harassed 
with doubtings and hard questions that worry 
them. He invites the tempted, the spiritually 
weak and unstable, and all who tremble with 
the fear of sinning. He invites them who feel 
their sinfulness and are disquieted by it,— 
who are ashamed of it, or frightened by it,— 
or sorry for it. He invites those conscious 
of the power of sin within them, irresistible, 
little by little dragging them under lke a 
quicksand, in spite of their struggles and cries, 
—“ Who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death!” He invites those who long for right- 
eousness, and have no peace without it, and 
those who thirst for communion with God, 
and will not be satisfied without it. To all’ 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 148 


these, and to every one who is not at rest with- 
in himself, the invitation is directed,—‘‘ Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy la- 
den, and I will give you rest.” 

Sirs, we are all invited; we need rest, and 
here it is held out to us. Shall we-now in- 
quire more particularly what this is that we 
are invited to? It is not to the explanation 
of doctrines merely for doctrine’s sake (there 
is no rest in knowledge); it is not to easy and 
pleasant earthly circumstances (for a rock has 
rest, not depending on the waves remaining 
quiet); it is not to idleness that we are called 
(that most unrestful state); but it 1s to res¢t—the 
relief from toil and burden,—that is, from la- 
bor and from heavy lading. That this is the 
meaning is evident from the manner in which 
the word “rest” is contrasted in the sentence 
with the words “labor” and “heavy laden.’’ 
And, since these words denote all active and 
passive misery, as we have seen, the promised 
rest is relief from all the misery that comes of 
acting and being acted on. It is relief from 
poverty, anxiety, disappointment, sickness, 
tyranny, distracting doubts, fear, sin, spiritual 


146 MEMORIAL OF THE 


dissatisfaction, and every form of unrest that 
can be named. 

Now this will lead us perforce to under- 
stand that the rest that Christ here so dis- 
tinctly promises is not, exactly the sort of 
thing that shallow and earthly minds call by 
that name. And this the following words set 
forth more clearly still;—‘“ Take my yoke” 
(‘to. take the yoke’ is a well-known Jewish 
expression meaning ‘to come under one’s in- 
structions,’ ‘to attend his school’)— Enter 
my school and learn of me,’ our Teacher says, 
‘“‘and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Now 
we see how he can speak so confidently. It 
is not alone because he has the power of God 
upon his side, but it is for the same reason 
that a teacher can confidently promise to im- 
part what he fully knows himself—it is be- 
cause Christ has within himself that rest 
which he would give us. ‘“ My peace give I 
unto you;—not as the world giveth give I 
unto you.” The world promises to give rest by 
making matters smooth outside and leaving 
our hearts as they are; Christ means to settle 
our restless hearts; the world would try to 





REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 147 


make the waves stop rolling, which cannot 
be; Christ would make us firm enough to be 
at peace even when they dash clear over us. 
Their tumult shall be music to us, while we 
stand still in cheerful mood. 

Real rest must always be internal. Why 
does the sick man find no rest? Give him 
the softest of pillows and the most luxurious 
bed, let air be pure, and warmth most suit- 
able, and light tempered with the most deli- 
cate tact; tread softly, let the voice be hush- 
ed; yet he will toss and groan, and wish a 
thing changed and then changed back again, 
and he will pettishly complain, perhaps, of the 
very things that you have arranged at the 
greatest pains to please him,—and all because 
the unrest is within him. And why does the 
conscience-stricken have no rest? He may 
be thought in all things fortunate, and may 
be highly honored, his prosperity may bring 
him troops of friends and showers of compli- 
ments; every enterprise may turn out well, 
and every means of pleasure be within his 
reach; but, while remorse is gnawing like a 
worm within him, though he put on a con- 


148 MEMORIAL OF THE 


tented look and speak with cheerful voice, 
there is no rest, and there can be given him 
no rest by any way of arranging circum- 
stances. " | 

But “ Take my yoke upon you and learn of 
me, ; the. Saviour, says 2s. -yr “and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls.” A restful heart ye 
shall receive; and then ye shall be like a 
room all cheerful within, with a bright fire 
burning and a table stored with good things, 
while the storm singing without and the rain 
upon the windows only increase the comfort. 
True comfort must be within. Such was the 
peace that Christ carried in himself about the 
world, through hunger and slander, and men’s 
wilful misunderstanding, and the persecutions 
of the Jews and the folly of his disciples, feel- 
ing himself to be alone even when multitudes 
were shouting ‘“ Hosanna” in his honor, and 
having ever in his view the cross with its ag- 
ony and its obloquy. Christ’s central calm- 
ness is nowhere more remarkable than in the 
scenes which would try a person most. No- 
tice it at the last supper, when he prophesied 
that one of his friends would sell him for 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD: TVLER. 149 


money and another would deny him. In the 
words with which he distributed to them 
the emblems of his death, notice that sim- 
plicity united with deep significance, and that 
lack of passionate expression and so-called 
eloquence, by which was revealed a heart fix- 
ed and calm to its very depths. Then grief 
began; but who is it then ministers the con- 
solation? Not they to him, but he to them! 
“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe 
in God, believe also in me’’—in me, the suffer- 
ing and the dying one. Then that prayer be- 
ginning, “ Father, the hour is come,’’—the 
undertone of confidence sounds through the 
sadness of it, and soon that wonderful utter- 
ance—“ That they might have my joy fulfilled 
in themselves.” Afterwards, for once his heart 
seems to have failed him; but not so: “ My 
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ;” 
but what steady trust still in his Father was 
that which spoke, “ Nevertheless, not what I 
will, but what thou wilt.” And when, a short 
time after, Peter was for defending Christ by 
force, the Master spoke again from his calm 
heart, “ Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray 


I50 MEMORIAL OF THE 


to my Father, and he shall presently give me 
more than twelve legions of angels ?”’ 

Now if it is Christ’s own rest that he has 
promised us, take note of a few things con- ~ 
cerning it. 

In the first place, then: He gives rest from 
sin by taking sin away; and with it goes the 
disquiet of a guilty conscience and a fear of 
penalty. “ Love casteth out fear.” “ Beloved, 
if our heart condemn us not, then have we 
confidence toward God,” and not unquietness 
before him any longer. This is too evident 
to be dwelt upon, and is a thing that stands 
upon the very face of our text. But because 
this is so plainly true, we must not, by gazing 
at it too exclusively, let another thing escape 
attention :-— 

For, in the second place, the rest of Christ. 
is rest from other things besides sin, a guilty 
conscience and the dread of punishment; it is 
a rest from all toilsome labor and heavy bur- 
dens. Do not doubt this, because you do not 
see that Christians are less afflicted than oth- 
ers with the trials of life; for thus to doubt 
would show that the meaning of rest 1s not 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. I51 


understood. Cessation is not promised us, but 
rest—not a taking away, but a relief—not a 
stopping of the waves, but ability to endure 
them,—not rest external, which is no rest, but 
rest internal, which is rest. To give the sick 
man a thorough repose, we need to cause a 
changein #zm, and not merely to remake his 
bed; and so Christ gives rest from the unto- 
ward circumstances of our life—not chiefly, 
and sometimes not at all, by making circum- 
stances pleasanter; but always by imparting 
his peacefulness of mind, which turns evil to 
good; or if not, still it cannot be hurt by the 
evil. Take one example and let it stand for 
many. Here is a person who by a seemingly 
cruel work of Providence loses him. who has 
been at once her best beloved, her trusty 
counsellor, her helper in the labor of rearing 
a family, and the furnisher of their support. 
Her love, her courage and her ability are all 
bereaved at once. Where shall she find rest 
from sorrow, and from dejection, and from 
want? She goes to Christ for it, and learns a 
little of his rest. His rest did not consist in ~ 
being devoid of sorrow, or in the assurance 


152 MEMORIAL OF THE 


that all things would turn just as he would 
like, or in a plentiful supply of physical com- 
forts; neither probably will hers—at least, that 
is not the promise. But she “shall find rest into 
her soul,” as Christ did; then these sore afflic- 
tions, really felt, shall dwell only in the outer 
part of her mind, while in the centre calm- 
ness and courage, and a fixed happiness shall 
be, so bracing the whole fabric that it cannot 
fall to pieces or be shaken from its place; and 
this solid rest shall grow, as a fruit ripens 
from the centre outwards, and shall drive the 
unrest further and further towards the sur- 
face and finally outside the soul; and then 
what have we? a soul beset and struck at on 
every side, and yet in perfect peace within. 
‘Have we not known a few who were not far 
from being what I say ?-—invulnerable to ex- 
ternal troubles, and that not by a shell-like 
hardness, but because those souls are made of 
such material as troubles cannot mingle with. 

If we really need to be saved from want, 
sickness, loneliness, and the other grievous 
things that this world offers us, God will take 
them from us; but in most cases we do not 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 153 


need that (however much we may desire it), 
but we need a restful heart. The promise is 
to give us this; it does not say that all exter- 
nal difficulties shall be done away. “In the 
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of 
good cheer; I have overcome the world.” 
“These things have I said unto you that ye 
Misntenave peace... “Be of good cheer” in 
the midst of tribulation; that is better than to 
live at ease. 

Moreover, the thought that it is peace like 
Christ’s, will remind us that we are not called 
to be stoics. Though Jesus was at rest dur- 
ing continued tribulation, he was very far 
distant from stoicism, which teaches a man to 
make himself callous to pain and pleasure, 
counting them as things indifferent, and to 
sustain himself in a sort of noble moral pride 
near to his ideal. A philosophic view of 
troubles and delights, steadiness, self-com- 
mand, self-respect, and unswerving obedience 
to the duty that philosophy points out, are 
the lofty characteristics of true stoicism. It 
is the sublimest rule of living that the human 
mind without the aid of revelation has been: 

8 


154 MEMORIAL OF THE 


able to frame. But Christ has something still 
better and quite different. Instead of estab- 
lishing a form of pride—even this noblest form 
of it—as the foundation of a good man’s char- 
acter, he leaves him to be as prideless asa 
child: instead of calling upon us to exterm1- 
nate the natural emotions of the heart, he 
leaves them in full force; he will not mangle 
us in order to make life tolerable. He teaches 
us to go as steadily through good and evil as 
the stoic does, but to go with warm hearts 
and simple, as the stoic cannot; for the stoic’s 
calmness is by a cultured coldness, while the 
Christian’s calmness is by an internal wealth 
of peace and life, derived from Christ. How 
hopeful it renders us, where stoicism only 
makes one contented; how full of “good 
cheer,” ‘‘overcoming the world” in spite of 
tribulation, our Master’s peace brings us to 
be; how tall it makes us grow above the en- 
tangling briers at our feet! 

And notice now a thing that probably has 
been coming to your thoughts repeatedly as 
I was speaking,—that this rest from labor and 
burdens shall sometime become complete. I 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 155 


have not made this prominent, because it oc- 
curs of itself to every one at the mention of 
the text, and because there is more danger of 
overlooking the fact that the rest of Christ 
belongs in this world as well as in the world 
to come, and is rest from every sort of trial as 
well as from sin and spiritual afflictions. But 
the time will come—it will not be long hence, 
will it? 
cheer amid the storm, but the storm itself 





when not only may we be of good 


shall pass away, and the sun shine out from 
the clear blue, and we shall be standing in- 
side the gate towards which we have been 
laboriously plodding, and rest shall be not 
only within us, but all around us. 

And then, “© feeble, faltering feet, 

Methinks ’twill be so wondrous sweet 

To tread the pavement’s golden gleams, 

And rest beside the crystal streams, 

In that dear city where all tears 

Are wiped away, and all our fears, 

And all our weary wanderings cease ; 

There shall you rest, tired feet, in peace.” 

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 

Heavy Jaden ..... Take my yoke upon you, 
and Jearn of me; for I am meek and lowly of 


156 MEMORIAL OF THE 


heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” 
Meekness and lowliness cannot help giving 
rest of themselves. Yet Christ does not say, 
““meekness and lowliness will give you rest,” 
but “I will give” it. Does it not point to the 
fact that there is rest for us desédes that which 
these qualities themselves can give ?—rest in 
a person, rest in Christ’s love, rest in com- 
munion with him, to be enjoyed on condi- 
tion that we learn his meekness and lowliness, 
and so be able to enter into his mind and 
thoughts ? 

And in this connection is something that 
seems strange to me—that is, that men who 
read the life of Christ, understand that meek- 
ness means tameness, and lowliness means 
servility. Tameness and servility afford no 
rest; nor are they found in Christ. What 
was almost the last thing that he had uttered 
before this call to meekness? It was a most 
terrible upbraiding of Chorazin and Caper- 
naum. And what was the last word before 
this invitation to be lowly in heart? It wasa 
claiming to be the only knower and revealer 
of God. A selfish pride or an unrighteous 











REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 157 


anger is as far from Christ as anything that 
can be imagined; but a fearless rebuke where 
rebuke is necessary, or a plain announcement 
of his glorious office where that is called for, 
he does not shrink from uttering. 

It is not, then, upon a weak or puny mind 
that we are called to rest, but on one whose 
repose itself is but a form of power. His easy 
yoke he offers us; and instead of our burden, 
his burden, light, and lifted from above. Thus 
he stands amid the crowd with welcoming 
words in cheerful’ voice: ‘Come, get rest; I 
will give it you; wait no more.’ 

Great rest is yours, all you who come to 
Christ. Have you yet realized that portion 
which you can in this world, and which you 
are in need of now? In some degree I know 
you have; in greater degree you may. In all 
the toils and enduring all the burdens of your 
lot, have you learned .to pass through the 
world as a boy wades through an impetuous 
torrent, his feet among cutting and slippery 
stones and rushing waters, but his head and 
heart calm in the sunlight above? That is 
our Master’s peace. 


158 MEMORIAL OF THE 


And you who have no peace, why will you 
not hear his gracious voice? He does not 
quite yet say, ‘‘ Depart from me;” but for the 
present his bidding is, ‘Come unto me.” To 
-each toiling soul, to each burdened spirit, 
comes his breath; with healing power for 
every bruise, promising relief from every sor- 
row, saying, “Come unto. me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest”’—rest! Now may God give you 
rest! 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. I59 


THE POSITION OF MOSES’ LAW UNDER 
eee GOL EI, DISPENSATION, —TT’ Is 
ABOLISHED. 


COLOSSIANS 2:14. 


“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was 
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the 
way, nailing it to his cross.” 


EPHESIANS 2:14, 15. 


“THe] hath broken down the middle wall of partition 
between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even 
the law of commandments, contained in ordinances.” 


THESE two sayings explain each other, and 
are abundantly explained by other passages 
in St. Paul, and elsewhere in the New Testa- 
meet. their meaning is, that Christ by 
his death destroyed the separating barrier 
between Jews and Gentiles, by abolishing the 
Law of Moses. That code of written ordi- 


160 MEMORIAL OF THE 


nances he took out of our way, and crucified 
it when himself was crucified. 3 

So, then, let us direct our minds upon this 
topic :—what position does the Law of the 
Old Testament take, and what sort of au- 
thority has it, under the new dispensation of 
Christ >—what shall we do with the Law of 
Moses? 

First of all, let us illustrate by a parallel 
case. The law of England used to have au- 
thority over this country: is it over us now? 
Of course we say No; but let us see. The 
law of England forbids stealing. May I steal, 
then, because I think that law is abolished for 
Americans? I may not steal. Then is not 
the law of England still in force, so far as steal- 
ing is concerned? I think anybody can an- 
swer that the law of England is not in force ; 
but stealing is forbidden by American law. 
But suppose our State had neglected to pass 
a law against stealing, would it then be right 
to steal? Of course not. Why?— because 
the English law forbids it? And if so, is not 
the law of England partially in force among 
us? It is not partially in force: it has nothing 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 161 


to do with the matter. Stealing is wrong by 
the law of nature, which isthe law of God. If 
our government does not make laws against 
it, still it is wrong; and whether England has 
a law against it or not, has nothing to do with 
the matter. 

We must carefully distinguish between the 
bare authority of a law and the intrinsic right- 
ness of the things commanded by it. The 
authority of a law, strictly speaking, is derived 
from the authority of the author, the lawgiver, 
and continues only as long as the lawgiven 
will; the intrinsic rightness of a command 
depends upon the reasonableness of it, as 
judged by the needs of human nature and by 
conscience. Stealing, and lying, and blas- 
phemy, are wrong, whether any government 
has forbidden them or not. They are pro- 
hibited by conscience. A governing authority 
may add its own law to that of conscience if 
it will; but when that government’s law is 
done away, still the law of conscience remains. 
But take a different case. It is neither right 
nor wrong for me to shoot game at a cer- 


tain season of the year: I may do as | please. 
8* 


162 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Conscience has no general law here. Now 
the government comes in and says, I shall not 
shoot during such and such months. If that 
government has no rightful authority over 
me, its law about shooting counts for nothing ; 
the right and wrong remain just as they were 
before. Z. g,if England forbids me to shoot 
in Connecticut, I don’t care a pin; she has 
no authority here; I will shoot as I please. 
But if the government which has rightful 
authority, forbids me to shoot, shooting at 
once becomes a sin. The authority of the 
government makes that wrong which was 
not wrong before. Here it is then: If an 
action is neither right nor wrong by the na- 
tural law of conscience, the rightful govern- 
ment can make it right or make it wrong by 
its own authority expressed in law: but when 
that law is repealed, matters go back to their 
former state, and the action is neither right 
nor wrong. 

And again, if an action is in itself either a 
duty or a sin by the natural law of conscience, 
then the government cannot make right wrong 
or wrong right; but it can add its own law 








KEV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 163 


to that of conscience: and when this govern- 
ment law is repealed, still the right action 
remains right, and the wrong remains wrong. 

The law of England used to forbid Ameri- 
cans to steal. That law of England was abolish- 
ed for us; yet then it was wrong to steal. The 
American law came in and forbade us to steal, 
and still it is wrong to steal; for stealing is 
wrong at any rate. Again, the law of Eng- 
land used to require Americans to pay their 
taxes by a certain) rule; and then it was their 
duty to doso: the law of England was abol- 
ished, and then it was not our duty to pay taxes 
by that rule: but the law of America comes 
in and says we shall pay them by a different 
rule, and then it becomes our duty so to do. 

What shall we say then? Is the law of 
England abolished only in part? Is it abolish- 
ed in the matter of taxes, and does it still stand 
in the matter of stealing? No, it is abolished 
every whit ; there is not a particle of its author- 
ity remaining over us. Stealing remains wrong, 
as it always was; and taxes are now regulated 
by a new government, under whose authority 
we are. 


a 


164 MEMORIAL OF THE 


- What then would be the result if the Mosaic 
Law were abolished every whit—Decalogue, 
ceremonies, customs, taxes, and all the rest of 
it? Stealing would remain wrong as it al- 
ways was, and so would every other act which 
is wrong by nature; but ceremonies, taxes, 
and everything not right or wrong by nature, 
would be regulated by a new government, or 
else would remain indifferent. And that is just 
the actual state of things. The law of Eng- 
land can make nothing right or wrong for 
Americans, because we are not subjects of 
England any longer: the law of Moses can 
make nothing right or wrong for Christians, 
because we are not subjects of that law. But 
what is right by nature remains right, and 
what is wrong by nature remains wrong; and 
as to the rest, we have a new government, the 
Lord Jesus, who can regulate matters as he 
sees fit. 

What shall we say then? Is the Mosaic law 
abolished only in part, because we still are 
bound not to steal, or bear false witness, or 
commit adultery? It is abolished wholly: it 
is swept clean away: it has not a particle of 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 165 


authority left. It will not do to separate it 
into three portions—the moral, the ceremo- 
nial, and the civil,—and to say the moral re- 
mains while the rest is done away. It is all 
done away; and the moral precepts remain 
on their own authority, with the authority 
of Christ added. They were in force before the 
Decalogue was published ; they were in force 
after it was puvlished; they are in force now 
that it is abolished. This distinguishing the 
law of Moses into three parts is something 
not recognized by Moses himself, or by the 
writers of the New Testament: it is a contri- 
vance of theologians of later times. It may 
be a useful distinction, and I do not doubt 
it ¥%; but it is a mischievous distinction, when 
it mnrevents our seeing the fact that the old 
law is blotted out entirely. 

Is this now a conclusion that we arrive at, 
only by studying the analogy of the abolition 
of the English law? No: it is a truth insisted 
on by the Apostle; and we use the analogy only 
by way of explanation. ‘ The law was our 
schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, that we 
might be justified by faith. But, after that 


166 MEMORIAL OF THE 


faith is come, we are no longer undera school. 
master.’ In another place the same apostle 
argues, that a woman is bound to her husband 
only as long as he is alive. When he dies, she 
dies to him, and may marry again. In like 
manner Moses’ law is dead, and we are dead 
to it—that we might be “ married to another, 
even to him who was raised from the dead,” 
the Lord Jesus. And again he says, “If I 
build again the things which I destroyed,’ — 
if I set up Moses’ authority again after having 
thrown it down,—“‘I make myseif a trans- 
gressor; for I, through the law, am dead to 
the law, that I might live to Christ.” And 
yet again he speaks of certain Mosaic obser- 
vances asa shadow of coming things: but now 
that the body itself, of which they were a shad- 
ow, 1S come, what care we for the shadow? 
The body is Christ: and he “blotted out the 
handwriting of ordinances that was against 
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out 
of the way, nailing it to his cross.” He 
‘abolished * * * the law of commandments 
contained in ordinances, * * * so making 
peace.” And yet another inspired writer says, 








KEY SfAM ES BRAINERD TYLER. 167 


that Christ is the Priest now, in stead of the 
tribe of Levi, and “The priesthood being 
changed, there is of necessity a change also 
of the law.” “There is verily a disannuliny 
of the commandment going before, for the 
weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” We 
conclude, then, that ‘Christ is the exd of the 
Law, for righteousness, unto every one that 
believeth.” 

Let me dwell a little longer upon the pre- 
sent matter, that) there may be no need of 
proving it over again next week. Paul 
gives great emphasis to the truth that in 
Christ the law is done away. That he means 
the law of Moses, I think, will not be doubt- 
ed by any one who has given intelligent at- 
tention to the course of thought in the epistles, 
or to Paul’s customary use of this term Law. 
This isa well-known proper name fora certain 
book—the book of the Pentateuch, or the law 
of Moses,—and it would be so understood by 
every Jewish reader. But does the apostle 
mean that it is done away as a method of jus- 
tification? or as an authoritative rule of ac- 
tion? One or the other he must mean. He 


- 


168 MEMORIAL OF THE 


does not mean that it is done away as a method 
of justification ; for he vehemently denies that 
it ever was a method of justification. At An- 
tioch he preached tiat believers “are justified 
from all things, from which ye could not be 
justified by the law of Moses ;” and indignant- 
ly reminded Peter that “ By the works of the 
law shall no flesh be justified.” The Mosaic 
law, therefore, is done away as an authorita- 
tive rule of action. Allofits authority, though 
not its usefulness, is gone. 

The Mosaic law was a national law, given 
to the Jews. It has not been abolished for the 
Gentiles, for it never had authority over them ; 
for the same reason that the law of France 
has no authority over me,—I never was a 
citizen of France. Moses’ law was Jewish 
law: it never had authority over me, for I 
never was a Jew. The Jewish nation, how- 
ever, once was God’s church on earth, and 
then the Mosaic law was the law of the ° 
church; but it was repealed long ago, and by 
that means it became possible for Gentiles to 
come into the church without becoming Jews: 
z.e, the “middle wall of partition” between 





! 
| 
| 
' 


! 
; 
\ 





REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 169 


Jew and Gentile, was broken down thereby, 
as our text declares. Either the law has 


‘been abolished, or else the Gentiles cannot 


come into God’s church, or else the Gentiles 
must become Jews when they come in. The 
Gentiles may come in without becoming Jews: 
therefore the Jewish law must have been 
abolished. 

Abolished partly? No; abolished wholly, 
as we have seen. 

Neither is this the meaning,—that the law 
seems abolished to the Christian, because he o- 
beys it, and so does not feel its authority weigh- 
ing down upon him. It is true that such is the 
result of obeying the law heartily, and for the 
love of it. But that is not the thing that is being 
spoken of in all these passages about the re- 
pealing of the Law; for it is a thought which 
would be outside of the line of argument in 
every one of them. 

I hope that now the thing I wish to say is 
not left ambiguous. My meaning is, and the 
apostle’s meaning is, in the plainest sense of 
these words, that the binding authority of the 
law of Moses, in all parts of it, is, under the 


170 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Christian dispensation, as completely null and 
void as if that law had never been given. 

And furthermore, the Old Testament follow- 
ing Moses’ time, is in the same manner done 
away. It is but a part and development of 
Judaism, of which Moses’ law is the founda- 
tion ; they are both of one piece. Their unity 
is so well recognized, that the term law was of- 
ten used among the Jews, and in the New Tes- 
tament, as the name of the whole Old Testa- 
ment together, and not of the first five books 
alone,—as, e.g, where Paul says, “ In the law 
it is written, with men of other tongues and 
other lips will [ speak unto this people,”’—the 
quotation being from Isaiah. No distinction 
is ever intentionally made between the Penta- 
teuch and the other parts of the Old Testa- 
ment, except with the idea that the Pentateuch 
is the basis of the whole; so that the later 
books stand or fall with the books of Moses. 
In company with Moses, their authority as 
commandments is done away. 

Observe, however, that abolishing the old 
law does not declare it to bea bad one. The law 
of England is not declared to be bad when we 








KEV. GFAUMLS DRAINERD? TYLER. Dal 


say that it no longer has authority over us. 
Good or bad, it was done away: and yet in 
truth it was a good law—far better than most 
nations have. The Mosaic law is not declared 
to be a bad one by being abolished: but it had 
done its work, and become obsolete, and a 
better government, with a new law, took its 
place. The summary of Moses’ law is the 
same as the summary of the perfect law ;— 
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind ;” and, “Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself’ “Wherefore the law 
is holy and just, and (therefore) good.” 
In that age of the world there was no code 
of morals worthy to stand in comparison 
with it; and for that Jewish nation, in their 
peculiar circumstances, with their peculiar 
qualities, and with their peculiar work to do 
in the history of the world, the Mosaic law 
was fitted by divine wisdom for its temporary 
purpose. When it had accomplished this, it 
became useless and was set aside, that a “ bet- 
ter dispensation” might come in. “ For there 
is verily a disannuling of the commandment 


172 MEMORIAL OF THE 


going before, for the weakness and unprofit- 
ableness thereof: for the law made nothing 
perfect; but [there was] the bringing in of a 
better hope.” And all of that abolished law, 
which is good for us under our circumstances, 
still remains—not, however, on the authority 
of Moses, but on its own authority, and by the 
command of Christ. 

Now notice, if you please, another thing. 
The Law of England has not the slightest 
authority over this country ; and yet, because 
our law is founded upon it, it is of great value 
to help us to understand our own law, and to 
cuide the practice of our courts,—so much so, 
that no one is fit to be a lawyer here who has 
not given considerable attention to the law of 
England. In like manner, the law of Moses, 
and the Old Testament generally, are of great 
value to aid the understanding of the New — 
Testament and the law of Christ. By saying 
that its authority is gone, we are far from 
teaching that it need not be studied or heed- 
ed. On the contrary, the Old Testament is 
the most valuable commentary on the New; 
and not only so, but it also throws light upon 





Ee eeereoOw —- -- 
\ 


! 





Kein Pati Ea DKAINE RIOT VLE R. 174 


many of our duties, which are less distinctly 
mentioned in the New. It throws light upon 
them, and it may show them to be binding ; 
but it cannot make them binding. To take a 
single example, the requirement that one-tenth 
of the yearly income should be set apart for 
religious and charitable uses, will go far to 
guide us in framing our own rules of charity; 
but it is not itself a rule to us, for its bare 
authority is utterly destroyed. 

2nd. Now, in view of all that has been said, 
the inquiry arises;—What then was the law 
of Moses for ?—what purpose was it meant to 
serve, if its authority was meant to pass away ? 

Of course, a part of its design was to rule 
the nation of the Jews asa social body, and 
do the offices of acivil law: but, besides this, 
the New Testament points out two purposes 
for which the law was given,—namely: to 
awaken men toa sense of their helpless con- 
dition in sin, and to point out to them the 
true way of redemption. It wasasort of John ~ 
the Baptist, crying, “ Repent!” It was not 
the Light, “but was sent to bear witness of 
that Light.” 


174 MEMORIAL OF THE 


“The law entered that the offence might 
abound.” The law came in that the sinfulness 
of human nature might be brought into a defi- 
nite, and conscious shape, by transgressing 
express commands. 

The law did not make men sinful, but it took 
the first step towards curing their sinfulness ; 
“For by the Law is the knowledge of sin.” It 
did not make them greater sinners, but it 
brought their sin to view. The evil of their 
heart, and the error of their life were scarcely 
understood by themselves, till a definite com- 
mandment came and said, ‘Thou shalt do 
this.’-.* Thou :shalt -not-do etiam 
they roused themselves in opposition to the 
command, or else they learned how hard it 
was to keep it, and accused themselves of 
definite transgressions against a clearly-stated 
law; and in either case they came to a knowl- 
edge of the sin that just as really had ex- 
isted formerly, only hidden from themselves. 
The sacrifices and other rites of the Old 
Testament kept constantly before them the 
thought of guilt, and the need of atone- 
ment. Conviction and sorrow was the law’s 








LEV GAMES DRAINERD TVLER. 175 


chief work for sinners — as sense of bond- 
age, of discord within themselves, of ill-de- 
serving, of helplessness. But not without 
hope, were men in prison under the law. 
There was a better expectation forward. ‘We 
were kept under the law, shut up, awaiting 
the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 
Wherefore the law was our guide to Christ, 
_ that we might be justified by faith.’ With one 
hand, the law held men in its painful grasp, 
with the other it pointed to the coming Christ. 
Christ came; the law let go its hold; we 
went to Christ ; and we are free. 

Such is the teaching of St. Paul. Such is 
the law, such was its purpose; and it did not 
fail. The law was ordained by God to do 
this temporary work for the race of man, as 
the law of conscience does it for the indi- 
vidual soul. As one wishing to leaven a great 
mass of dough, first prepares a little leaven 
separately, and at the right time adds it to 
the mass, so God prepared the education of 
our sinful race, by setting apart a little na- 
tion, giving them the law to drive them to- 
wards Christ, then giving them Christ; and 


176 MEMORIAL OF THE 


at last, through their efforts, sending forth into 
the wide world, the gospel-leaven, to infect 
the whole with life and holiness. 

3rd. Finally, observe one thing more. That 
law which is abolished is fulfilled. The ful- 
filment of it abolished it. It was made on 
purpose to be abolished,—as the blossom is — 
made on purpose to produce the fruit, and in 
the act of fruiting is itself at once fulfilled and 
done away. So plainly did St. Paul perceive 
this, that during the very argument where he 
is proving the law to have been repealed, 
he says, ‘Do we then make void the law 
through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish 
the law.” | 

For we must remember that the Mosaic 
law is different from the law of England in 
certain respects. The law of England was 
brought to an end in this country by a force 
hostile to its authority ; but not so the law 
of Moses. That law and the new one are from 
the same Lawgiver, who, from the beginning, 
intended that the one should give place to the 
other. It was not because some new light, 
and a better plan, came into God’s mind at a 











KEV JAMES DRAINERD TVLER., L77 


later time; but he understood both plans from 
the first, and purposely set up one as a pre- 
paration for the other. There is no conflict, 
then, but harmony, between the old and the 
new, As John the Baptist willingly gave way 
to Christ, the Law of Moses willingly perish- 
ed when the gospel came. And thus it ful- 
filled its destiny. Why, the very same Greek 
word means both to be fulfilled, and to be 
brought to an end. As the same workman 
makes first the mould and then the image cast 
within it; and makes the mould, expecting to 
destroy it in the process of casting; and as 
the purpose of the mould is fulfilled in the very 
act which destroys it; so God first made the 
law of Moses to shape the Gospel in, and ex- 
pected both to fulfil it and to destroy it in 
perfecting the Gospel: and in that act the 
law has passed away; but not a jot or title 
of it has failed. “Think not,” says our Lord, 
“that 1 am come to destroy the Law or the 
Prophets: I am not come to destroy but to 
fulfil.” Neither does that workman work 
to destroy that mould which he has made, but 
to fulfil its purpose; yet in fulfilling it he does 
9 


178 “MEMORIAL OF THE 


of necessity destroyit. Just so, our Lord, after 
saying that he is not come to destroy the 
law, goes on to quote Moses’ commandment, — 
“Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” and then shows 
how to fulfil the command, in doing which he 
destroys it. So not a tittle of the law has 
failed, but all its authority as a mere rule has 
passed away in being fulfilled. 

I have now given an outline of the teachings 
of the New Testament concerning the binding 
power of the commandments of the Old. But 
is it of any practical use to know all this? 
Truly it is; and this I hope to show some 
other time. But just now I will barely men- 
tion some mischiefs that have resulted from 
ignoring the truth set forth to-day. One class 
of people, seeing clearly that the epistles 
prove the law to be abolished, but not notic- 
ing that it is the Mosaic law, have concluded 
that Christians are not bound to perform the 
works of morality: another class, recoiling 
from the direful effect of such a doctrine, have 
ventured to deny that any law of God has 
been repealed by him; and, consequently, have 
explained away this teaching of the New 











REV. AMES BRAINERD TYLER. 179 


Testament by subtle methods of interpretation, 
which would, if thoroughly applied, subvert 
the whole doctrine of the apostles; and, fur- 
ther, they have enslaved the conscience of 
many good people to certain groundless scru- 
ples taken from the Jewish law: then a third 
class, learning their art of interpretation from 
the last-mentioned, have contrived to wrench 
the whole Bible to suit their own prejudices, 
or lust: and, finally, a fourth class, disgusted 
with the absurd or the immoral conclusions 
of the others, have thrown the whole Old 
Testament overboard as a worthless book, 
and at the next step thrown the New Testa- 
ment over too. The truths that we have now 
been contemplating will serve asa powerful 
corrective to all these evils, as well as to many 
others. [ For God hath not given usa spirit 
of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a 
sound mind.’’] 

Those who are seeking excuses fora lax 
morality, will find no comfort from our doc- 
trine. Those who would reintroduce the whole 
or apart of that Judaism which St. Paul ex- 
purgated from the church, will find them- 


180 MEMORIAL OF THE 


selves confuted by our teaching. ‘For ye are 
not come unto Mount Sinai, and fire, and 
darkness, and tempest, and trumpet-sounding, 
and that intolerable voice of words; but ye 
are come unto Mount Sion, *) *s*eandete 
Jesus, the Mediator of a mew covenant.’ * * * 
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: 
for if they escape not who refused him that 
spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, 
if we turn away from him that speaketh from 
heaven; whose voice then shook the earth: 
but now he hath promised, Yet once more I 
shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the 
removing of those things that are shaken, that 
those things which cannot be shaken may 
remain.” 








HEU JFANGE SeBRAINERD-TV LER. 181 


ANSWERABLE PRAYER. 


MATTHEW vi. 10.—‘ Thy will be done.” 


A RELIGION without prayer is a body with- 
out breath. Every organ may be perfect, 
each cell and fibre faultless, its form may sur- 
pass Apollo’s, the beauty of its internal struc- 
ture may fill the anatomist with admiration; 
yet what is it all, but a cold, dead clod? The 
very fly buzzing about its head knows more, 
enjoys more, can do more. Men may, by dis- 
secting, learn much of what the corpse could 
do, if it had life—of how its parts might act, 
if it had life,—but it is dead. 

A religion without prayer is a drama with- 
out progress. Let it be full of pretty senti- 
ments in neatly flowing phrases, let choicest 
canvas, choicest costumes, choicest actors rec- 
ommend it; but there is no accumulation, no 
aim, no power; the greatest of actors cannot 
play it well; the interest that rose with your 


182 MEMORIAL OF THE 


earliest expectation, faints into disappoint- 
ment; you cannot hear it through. 

_Men have always found it as I say. Some 
have framed for themselves a system of relig- 
ious philosophy, symmetrical, compact, well- 
organized, in most things true; but, not ad- 
mitting of real prayer, it has always proved 
useless for the soul’s life. It looks well, it 
sounds well, it is a fine subject for analysis, 
that one may see what it would be if it were 
alive; but it is a corpse. If carefully pre- 
served, it becomes a dried mummy; if not, it 
melts into corruption. Such has been the 
history of all the prayerless philosophers that 
are old enough to have run their course. 

Some men, on the other hand, caring less 
for philosophy, have contrived a religion for 
themselves which consists only of the culture 
of fine sentiments towards God and upright 
action towards men, but all, either in theory 
or at least in practice, without prayer. But 
it has turned out to be a drama without prog- 
ress. The sentiment may be good enongh, 
the morals may be good enough; but when it 
comes to acting the drama on the stage of 





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REY, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 183 


life, there is found to be no vigor in it; some- 
how there is felt to be an emptiness, a lack of 
definite, sturdy purpose, the acting loses spir- 
it, the morals themselves degenerate to mere 
correct forms of doing, and the sentiment into 
a vague luxury of feeling. 

This need of prayer in order that religion 
may be deep, real and living, seems to be per- 
ceived almost instinctively by all kinds of 
men, however false or incomplete may be 
their ideas of God. With the savage’s first 
notion of an unseen being who has to do with 
human affairs, comes invariably an impulse to 
prayer. No matter how wretched a thing his 
god may be—a tree, a stone, an image rudely 
fashioned out of mud—no sooner does he begin 
to believe that there dwells in it a power who 
claims his service, than he addresses his wishes 
to it. He is right in this feeling that he must 
pray, and only wrong in thinking that wood 
or stone or clay is worthy of his petitions. It 
is but the same natural instinct that prompts 
the infant to ask whenever an object of desire 
is beyond its reach. Asking is as natural] as 
desiring ; and prayer is simply asking God. 


184 MEMORIAL OF THE 


And prayer becomes the more important, 
_ the greater the God is in whom we believe. 
Prayer is felt to be a necessity by him who 
does not suppose his god can do more than 
give him success in fishing, or turn away from 
his painted body the arrows of his foe. Still 
more, if Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, be our di- 
vinities ; for though they are not almighty or 
all-wise, they rule great departments of the 
universe, they are our kings, not always just, 
or pure, or kind, but as good, at least, as the 
human kings to whom we present our peti- 
tions, and far more powerful. Still higher, 
then, is the necessity of prayer, and still more 
pervading its influence on his life, to one- 
whose God is Abraham’s; for in his power 
are not some things, but all; he framed the 
world out of chaos, and created chaos out of 
nothing; he set the sun his course, he raised — 
the barriers of the sea; he taught the plant to 
bloom, the worm to crawl, the fish to swim, 
the bird to fly, the lion and the ox to love 
their diverse ways of life; he made man in 
image of himself, he knows each child of 
Adam through and through, he claims men’s 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. (185 


service, he plans men’s life, he punishes or re- 
wards according to his own unspotted rule 
of justice, he invites men’s prayers, and an- 
.swers them. Shall not his creatures kneel to 
him? If the believer in Jupiter does well to 
pray to Jupiter, much more shall not Abra- 
ham pray to Jehovah? 

Then higher yet is the Christian’s duty and 
privilege of prayer; for our God is the God 
of Abraham, with this still further revelation 
of himself, that he is a Father, overflowing 
with love to all whom he has made. Through 
his Son and through his apostles he urges us 
by every persuading motive freely to make 
known our requests to him with confidence 
that they shall not fail. If, then, the idolater 
must pray to such a god as his, if the more 
refined paganism finds religious lfe impossi- 
ble without prayer to the creatures of its fancy ; 
if the patriarch more truly livesby prayer tothe 
Almighty God; then, yet more truly, because 
the God of our thoughts is loftier than any of 
these, must the Christian find his soul’s life 
and earnestness prompting to, and promoted 
by, prayer to ‘Our Father who is in heaven.’ 


HX 


186 MEMORIAL OF THE 


‘So we all say, brethren. We exhort each 
other, as Christ and his messengers exhorted 
us, to “pray without ceasing,’—in every mo- 
ment of difficulty, of tribulation, of danger, of 
prosperity, of distress, of coldness, of longing 
for better things for the soul, or of wishing 
for any good, whether great or small, whether 
for ourselves or for others, to approach boldly 
the throne of him who desires to bless even 
more than we desire to be blessed. We re- 
mind each other that prayer brings answer ; 
but do we find it so? Yes, every one will 
reply. But how often?—how many of our 
prayers are answered? When I ask you this, 
does not your mind seek a reply by looking 
back a few days, a few weeks, even years may 
be, and saying to itself, “ There, on such and 
such a day, in such and such a matter, my 
prayer was not in vain?” Backward—search- 
ing along the path far behind, amid the ruins 
of a thousand fruitless prayers, do you not go 
to find a few instances of assured success? I 
believe that is a common way. What? Were 
you not answered to-day? Were you not 
answered where you sit? Why not? Why 








Mi Vea BRAINERD TYLER, 187 


must we seek old times to find when God 
kept his promise? The promise is not for a 
few prayers—one of a hundred—but for all 
right prayer. “All things whatsoever ye 
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall re- 
ceive.” 

But we have asked and not received? Is 
God, then, false to his promise? Who will 
not rather say that we have not truly prayed, 
or that we have not perceived the answer 
really given? 

But if this is so, itis of great import that 
we set things right here; for not to pray, or 
not to receive the answer to prayer, is the 
same as not to live the Christian life. It must 
be that there are mistaken ideas abroad in 
respect to prayer; for we will not say that all 
can be explained by affirming that nearly all 
Christians are indifferent to the matter. On 
the contrary, is it not one of the commonest 
things for a person to be in an agony of de- 
sire to receive the object of his petition, and 
at the same time in an agony of disappoint- 
ment that he does not receive it? But false 
views (easily adopted on any subject) are rife 


“188 MEMORIAL OF THE 


in respect to this; and false views, always 
dangerous, are most of all so in a matter of 
such vital importance. : 

I invite your attention now to two ques- 
tions, hoping that in our study of them some 
of these false views will come to the surface, 
and, being detected, will be abandoned : 

First, What is an answer to prayer? 

Second, What sort of prayer is answered ? 

First, What is an answer to prayer ?—I re- 
ply, in the first place, It is not sufficient to say 
that its answer consists merely in the natural 
effect of the act upon the praying soul. It may 
be that, but often it must be more. The charac- 
ter of the mind is educated in good by fre- 
quently repeating good emotions until they 
become deep-rooted habits. In the act of 
prayer the mind comes into a state of contem- 
plation of spiritual things, of tenderness to- 
ward holy thoughts and motives, of humility 
before God, of sorrow for sin, of longing for 
goodness and for the good of men,—indeed, 
the time of prayer is the time of all the high- 
est aspirations and resolutions of which the 
soul is capable; and by their repetition these 








REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 189 


become easier and more constant. In other 


words, the soul thus grows in holiness as the 


effect of praying ;—and this, some people say, 
is the answer tothe prayer. That is, If I pray 
for humility, in that very act I take on humil- 
ity, and so my prayer is answered; if I pray 
to be delivered from a certain sin, in that very 
aete)) cetermine anew to resist the sin, and 
that determination is the true means of resist- 
ing it; so that the tendency to commit it be- 
comes the weaker thereby, and my prayer 
brings its own answer. Now it is true that 
such is one of the natural and unavoidable 
benefits of genuine prayer—and this we ought 
not so often to forget ;—but it is no less true 
that this is not all of the answer. Let your 
Own experience decide. These persons say 
that the effect of prayer in aiding us to for- 
sake a sin is due merely to the fact that in 
praying we firmly resolve to forsake it. But 
have. you not repeatedly resolved with all 
your might (but forgetting to ask God’s aid) 
to resist a certain temptation, and yet fallen 
again and again beneath it; and at another 
time when it assailed you, have you not made 


190 MEMORIAL OF THE 


the same resolve with earnest prayer to God 
for help, and been triumphant? Did that di- 
vine help, when aiding your own resolve, 
ever fail? 

Or test these people’s idea by the Scrip- 
tures. Elisha’s prayer for the restoration of 
the Shunamite’s dead son, no doubt, was very 
beneficial in its reflex influence on the proph- 
et’s own soul, but how should that bring back 
the child’s life? Or, if one says that was a 
miracle, and so out of the order of the events 
of our day, take another instance. “I beseech 
you, brethren,’—so writes Paul to the Ro- 
mans—“ for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and 
for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive to- 
gether with me in your prayers to God for 
me; that I may be delivered from them that 
do not believe in Judzea: and that my serv- 
ice which I have for Jerusalem may be ac- 
cepted of the saints.” Evidently he thought 
that their prayers were somehow to be an- 
swered, not only in their own hearts, but in 
far-distant Jerusalem. 

Again, it is not sufficient to say that the an- 
swer of prayer consists in its influence on the 








REV FAMES BRAINERD- TYLER. IQI 


soul of him that prays, together with the natu- 
ral outward effects of that influence, in his 
acts and in their various consequences. It 
may be this, but oftenit must be more. Your 
prayer for the welfare of a church, by its in- 
fluence on your own mind, makes you more 
thoroughly willing to do all you can for the 
church ; and your doing, both directly and by 
exciting others to lke works, accomplishes 
the result designed. Thus the prayer an- 
swers itself; and that is all (so some people 
say) that there is of answer to prayer. But 
how do the Scriptures speak? In the case 
already mentioned did Paul expect the church 
at Rome to accomplish anything at Jerusalem 
by their own efforts, that he might be deliv- 
ered from the Jews and be accepted by the 
saints? But he urges them to pray for just 
these things, as if he expected their prayers 
would have some effect. 

Again, the true answer to prayer is an event 
brought about by God in consideration of the 
fact that the prayer is offered. If that is not 
it, then the Bible-writers speak of prayer ina 
way which must destroy all our confidence in 


192 MEMORIAL OF THE 


their truthfulness and respect for their hon- 
esty. What is the motive continually urged 
in their exhortations to prayer?—that prayer 
will by its very nature do us good? That 
would be true, but itis not mentioned. The 
great motive is not that prayer has naturally 
a tendency beneficial to the mind, but that 
God will answer it. The encouragement is 
that “ Your heavenly Father knoweth what 
things ye have need of before ye ask him,” 
and “If ye, being evil, know how to give ~ 
good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in heaven 
give good things to them that ask him.” 
The Scriptures always understand that the 
prayer moves God, and that he brings about 
the effect. Loosely speaking, then, it may be 
said that a prayer is not answered unless 
some event takes place in consequence of it 
which would not have happened otherwise. 
This statement, however, though calculated 
to give a true impression, might not be en- 
tirely correct in every case, because God 
might have seen sufficient reason to accom- 
plish the event prayed for, even if the petition 








KEV.) JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 193 


had not been offered; so that the offering of 
the prayer changed nothing except the mind 
of him who prayed. But even here, there is 
truly an answer to prayer; for though the 
event would have taken place at any rate, 
the prayer is an added inducement to God to 
bring it to pass; while in many cases, per- 
haps in most, it is one without which he would 
not have brought it to pass at all. Nor should 
any one be offended at this word zxducement, 
as ifit abated anything of the free sovereignty 
of God to do what he sees fit: for if we deny 
that God’s action is at all influenced by men’s 
requests, we must deny all power of prayer, 
and say that, except by superstition, prayer 
cannot be offered; since it is impossible for a 
man heartily to ask for anything when he is 
assured that God will be no likelier to give it 
than if the prayer had not been made. 

But it is common nowadays to declare that 
modern science has established one thing be- 
yond a doubt; and that is, that the laws of 
nature, in matter and in mind, act uniformly 
and without exception; so that prayer, being 
unable to change any of these laws, cannot 


194 MEMORIAL OF THE 


make any event different from what it other- 
wise would be. Well, we do not claim that it 
can, by its own force, without the will of God. 
And let us not confound what science has 
proved with what she has not. She has shown 
that natural laws are permanent and uniform, 
but she has not shown that God may not 
modify their workings, as you and I do every 
day, without either destroying or suspending 
them. It might as well be claimed that it 
was of no effect for me to make up my mind 
to read a certain chapter this afternoon, be- 
cause, forsooth, the laws of nature are uniform ; 
and if they caused it to be read it would be 
read, and if not, it would not be, and my de- 
termination would make no difference. I 
know it does make a difference. If I de- 
termined to read it, it would be read; if not, 
not. But I do not break any natural law in 
reading it, 1 merely modify the action of those 
laws. If, then, science has not shown that my 
action cannot modify events, how do men say 
it has shown that God’s action cannot? 

But I need not even have given this an- 
swer to them. I might have admitted, to 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 195 


please them, that all laws work invariably ac- 
cording to their original design; and then will 
they tell me, that in forming that design, God 
could not foresee each prayer and make am- 
ple provision therefor? Science says nothing 
to that question. 

The same suggestion also will furnisb an 
answer to those who say that by affirming 
prayer to be an inducement to God to do so 
and so, I make him to be changeable, design- 
ing first a certain thing, and then when he 
hears a prayer, altering that design. We do 
not make him changeable. If God once de- 
termined to do a thing, he always will be de- 
fermned to do it till itis done. But that 
original determination— might it not have 
been made in view of a prayer? ‘“ What?’ 
returns the objector, “in view of a prayer not 
yet offered ?” Certainly, we reply, for though 
not yet offered, God always knew whether it 
would be. 

But even this explanation is not necessary 
for one who believes the Bible. He does not 
require that God should untold to him all the 
whys and hows and whens of his universal 


196 MEMORIAL OF THE 


government. The Scriptures teach that pray- 
er is answered, and that the answer is a solid 
reality, not an illusive trick. Then what if 
we cannot tell ow it is? Can we tell how it 
is that certain chemical elements form oil of 
lemon, and also the very same elements, in 
the very same proportion, make oil of turpen- 
tine? We cannot tell how it is so, but we 
know it is so. We have no quarrel with sci- 
ence—she and religion are sisters. Only we 
say that when science can explain the difficul- 
ties of her own raising within her own proper 
domain, it will be early enough for her to 
come over into the realm of religion, and tell 
us whether God says the truth. | 

Second, Our second inquiry is, What sort 
of prayer is answered? | 

To sum up all the reply in one word, we 
may say itis the prayer of faith. That only 
has the promise, for that only is true prayer. 
‘‘All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, 
believing, ye shall receive.” 

Now that is a very simple thing in itself, 
but it implies a good many others which we . 
are apt to cast out of the account. Faith isa 





REV, JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 197 


simple entrusting of our interests to God, as 
being just what he ought to be, and doing 
just what he ought to do. 

Then the first and greatest characteristic of 
the prayer of faith is that it is offered ina 
spirit of submission to the divine will. We 
shall find no more perfect example of it than 
that most memorable one of Christ’s, “O my 
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as 
thou wilt.” And ‘‘ He went the second time, 
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup 
may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy 
will be done.” There are two elements in 
such a prayer; an earnest desire on the part 
of the petitioner—‘“‘Let this cup pass from 
me’’—and at the same time this proviso to the 
desire—‘ Nevertheless, not as I will, but as 
thou wilt.” There must be the desire, else it 
would not be prayer; there must be the pro- 
viso, else it would not be the prayer of faith. 
For suppose I go to God with my request, 
wishing that he should do, not what he thinks 
best, but what I think best; is that faith in 
him, or is it faith in myself, as able to judge 


198 MEMORIAL OF THE 


better than he?—or rather is it not bare self- 
ishness, determined to have my own way and 
make God serve me, whether it be best or 
not? The spirit of him who goes to God in 
faith is the spirit that puts God’s glory in 
front and a man’s own wishes behind; and 
that is why in the model prayer our Lord 
teaches us to say first of all, “‘ Hallowed be 
thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be 
done,” and not till afterwards, ‘‘Give us this 
day our daily bread.” 

It appears, then, that we seriously mistake 
when we understand that faith in prayer re- 
quires us merely to make up our minds what 
we will have, and then force ourselves to be- 
lieve that we shall beyond a doubt have just 
that thing. We are permitted to believe that 
we shall have just that, provided God sees 
best; but except on that condition, we are 
not to desire it. If we pray for a friend’s re- 
covery from sickness, and expect precisely 
that, without conditions; God, being wiser 
than we, may perceive, for reasons beyond 
our knowledge, that it is better to refuse our 
request. The consequence is that our prayer 








KEV ES CRANE AD TV LER. 199 


is not answered, our expectation is disap- 
pointed, and we are discouraged, and shaken 
in our belief in the efficacy of prayer. But in 
such a case God has broken no promise, for 
ours was not the prayer of faith. If, on the 
other hand, we prayed for the friend’s recov- 
ery with this proviso (expressed or under- 
derstood), ‘‘ Nevertheless, not my will, but 
thine ;’’ our prayer is certainly answered ;— 
the friend does recover, if that is God’s will,— 
and that is what we prayed for ;—or the friend 
does not recover if God’s will is so,—and that, 
too, was what we prayed for,—‘ Thy will be 
done.” So, then, it is impossible that the 
true prayer of faith should not be answered. 
But I suppose some think that if that is the 
whole of it, the prayer amounts to nothing ; 
for would not God have done his own will if 
we had not prayed? and now that we have 
prayed, has he done any differently from his 
will? No, he has not; but perhaps his will is 
different on account of our prayer. He has 
certainly taken our request into the account, 
and perhaps his own determination is differ- 
ent from what it would have been but for the 


200 MEMORIAL OF THE 


prayer. God does what is wisest under the 
circumstances, and our prayer is one of the 
circumstances. If it had been wanting, the | 
circumstances would have been different: very 
likely a different event would have been the 
wisest, and if so, that different event would 
have taken place. 

But may be you do not like that word 
“perhaps.” 1 say “perhaps” the event would 
have been different. But I also said that cer- 
tainly our petition was taken into account by 
our Father: and now I say, certainly the event 
is different, if itis wise and right that it should 
be; but if it were not wise and right, then do 
we desire it? If we do, ouriprayeraam tem 
prayer of selfishness, not of faith. “ Ye ask 
and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” 

Then how do we know whether our pray- 
ers are answered? Let us remember what 
the answer to prayer is. Itis that God really 
takes due account of our petition when he 
decides what to do, and if it be not wrong or 
unwise under the circumstances, does what 
we ask. How then do we know that he has 
answered? We know he always answers— 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 201 


there is no exception to that, and there ap- 
pear to be exceptions only because we misun- 
derstand what the answer is, or because we 
have not truly prayed. We have his promise, 
and our confidence is in that. 

And here is, after all, the main obstacle— 
not a difficulty in doctrine, but a lack of the 
spirit of faith. Probably some have thought, 
as | was showing what true prayer is, ‘“ That 
is a hard statement: that makes prayer hard 
to offer, if we must be content not to receive 
the precise thing we ask, and yet believe that 
God has answered us.” Sure enough, to 
many of us prayer zs a hard thing, because 
submission to God’s will is a hard thing. It 
is easy enough to say good words without 
meaning; it is easy even to do better than 
that, to direct to Ged our real desires; but 
genuine prayer is more. It has the condition 
always tacitly understood, if not expressed in 
language, “‘ Nevertheless, thy will be done.” 
But zen, the statement that we do not receive 
exactly what we ask, is not correct; for we 
ask, as Christ did, that God’s will take pre- 
cedence of ours in the matter, and it does. 

10 


202 MEMORIAL OF THE 


In the last chapter of John’s first epistle are 
two verses that will well repay the closest 
study. They explain what faith in prayer is. 
‘And this is the confidence that we have in 
him, that, if we ask anything according to his 
will, he heareth us; and if we know that he 
hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we 
have the petitions that we desired of him.” 
What, then, shall we do if we would be an- 
swered? ‘Try to electrify ourselves into a 
state of enthusiastic fervor, coax ourselves to 
weep, force ourselves to groan, as the priests 
of Baal yelled loud and cut themselves with 
knives to make him hear? Shall we try to 
make ourselves believe by mere power of will, 
against our better sense and observation, that 
our prayer will always be rewarded by a di- 
rect and remarkable granting of our wish, 
whether it be wise or not, precisely in the 
form in which our imagination pictures the 
event beforehand? No, none of that. But 
let our minds be fully submissive to the will 
of God, fully trustful of his wisdom to design, 
his kindness of desire and his truthfulness to 
his promise that no true prayer shall be un- 








REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 203 


heard; and not only will our prayer certainly 


be answered, but we shall be assured that it 
is, even though we may not see precisely 
how. Believe that ye receive, and ye do re- 
ceive. ‘For verily I say unto you, that who- 
soever shall say unto this mountain, be thou 
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and 
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe 
those things which he saith shall come to 
pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 
Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things 
ye desire, when ‘ye pray believe that ye re- 
ceive them, and ye shall have them.” 

Let us notice also a few other ways in 
which the faith of true prayer reveals itself. 

It reveals itself in perseverance. ‘ Contin- 
uing instant in prayer.” “ Pray without ceas- 
me Our Lord “spake a parable... .'. to 
this end, that men ought always to pray and 
not to faint.” In that parable God is not com- 
pared with the unjust judge as being like him, 
but as contrasted with him—the very oppo- 
site. ‘And shall not God avenge his own 
Plecuirsts .:2°: I tell you that he will avenge 
them speedily.” Then do not faint, for God is 


204 MEMORIAL OF THE 


working fast, however slow it may seem to 
you who cannot see all things that he sees,— 
he is working fast: so do not be disheartened 
or give up. He is not like the judge who put 
off the wronged widow as long as he could, 
but God answers as speedily as he wisely 
may. True faith trusts him in this, and nei- 
ther complains of delay, nor ceases her peti- 
tions through discouragement or the fading 
of desire. 

Faith also is a worker. The man of faith 
does not kneel in a dry place praying God to 
lift his wagon-wheel out of the mire. He goes 
down into the slough, and puts his own shoul- 
der to it. When he prays against sin, he 
grapples with sin himself. When he prays 
for prosperity, he labors for prosperity. When 
he prays God to show him the way, he looks 
keenly forward to descry it. When in his 
earthly race he looks “unto Jesus” he also 
runs with all his might. “The effectual 
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
much.” The word “effectual” there means 
operative, working. This shows why answers 
to prayer are especially promised to the right- 











REV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 205 


eous. They are the ones who not only pray 
against evil, but work against it. If they did 
not, their faith would not be true faith, nor 
their prayer true prayer. “If ye abide in 
me,” says the Lord, “and my words abide in 
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be 
done unto you.” ‘“ And whatsoever we ask, 
we receive of him, because we keep his com- 
mandments, and do those things that are 
pleasing in his sight.” ‘“ The Lord is far from 
the wicked; but he heareth the prayer of the 
righteous.” Those who would make prayer 
to God a substitute for their own efforts, will 
find little comfort trom such passages as those. 
‘““Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, 
Lord, shall [have his best prayer answered, ] 
but he that doeth the will of my Father.” 

* The prayer of faith also is (in the case of all 
those who know of Christ), offered in the 
name of Christ. ‘‘Whatsoever ye shall ask 
of the Father zz my name, he will give it you.” 
That does not mean merely to repeat, as if 
they were a magic charm, the words, “In 
Clirists nameé,”’ or; “For -Christ’s sake.” “It 
means that we are to ask as Christians, not as 

10% 


206 MEMORIAL OF THE 


Jews pra pine to Jehovah, nor simply as hu- 
man beings praying to the God of nature; 
but to ask in the spirit taught us in the gos- 
pel—in humility, in sincerity, in obedience to 
Christ, in trustfulness through Christ: for 
otherwise it is not in faith, and can claim no 
promise. 

We should also notice that there are cer- 
tain things for which we may pray with a pe- 
culiar faith, because they have a peculiar 
promise. I may pray for health in faith, as 
already explained; but I cannot be certain to 
receive health, though I may be certain that 
my prayer is answered. But I may pray for 
the Holy Spirit, with a certainty of receiving 
it. “Ifa son shall ask bread of one of you 
that is a father, will he give him a stone? or 
if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a 
serpent ? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer 
him a scorpion? If ye, then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your Heavenly Father 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” 
Here, then, is the Spirit’s presence certainly 
promised; and, having that, we may pray for 








eM NIIAMESIDRAINERD TYLER: 207 


other objects in such a way that the prayer 
shall be in accord with the will of God. 

It seems then, brethren, from what we have 
considered, that the answer to prayer is a re- 
ality, and that the prayer which God answers 
is that offered in faith. 

We have also contemplated some of the 
signs and effects of this faith, that we might 
be the better able to distinguish it from its 
counterfeit. Other of its effects we might 
well examine, if there were time; but these 
are the most essential ;—Entire submission of 
our will to God’s, willingness to persevere, 
and willingness to work out for ourselves the 
thing prayed for, so far as it is within our 
power. Submission, perseverance, working. 

We have not found that all the effect of 
prayer is through its natural good influence 
upon our own souls; and therefore we may 
pray with confidence for results beyond us,— 
for events in the natural world, for events 
among the nations, and for the good of indi- 
viduals. 

We have not found that prayer has any 
magical power of its own to bring God to our 


208 REV. JAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 


terms against his own better judgment. Let 
that idea go with the similar ones in the “ Ara- 
bian Nights.” We need not, then, be afraid 
of the prayers of good men ina bad party. 
We heard talk a few years ago as if prayers 
were like votes, and the majority carried the 
day. Men were afraid because honest Chris- 
tians at the South were praying and fasting 
for the success of the Confederacy. As to 
the effect of that upon their own minds, in 
making them more loyal and devoted to a bad 
cause which they thought good, it was to be 
deplored; but as to its effect upon God asa 
ruler of the destinies of nations, each one of 
those prayers which was indeed a true prayer, 
was on our side,—for such prayers always had 
beneath their surface the condition, ‘ Never- 
theless, thy will be done;’ and it was God’s 
will that slavery, and not freedom, should go 
down. Let us, then, never be afraid of true 
prayers, even if uttered by mistaken men— 
unless we are on the wrong side; then we 
may well fear them. 

Again, we have not found that it is neces- 
sary to lift ourselves into a belief that the 











KEV. FAMES BRAINERD TYLER. 209 


very form of event which we desire will 
surely come to pass; but we must believe it 
will happen if God sees it good; and desiring 
it only on that condition, we may be sure we 
shall have our desire. I suppose a great part 
of our discouragement as to the power of our 
prayers, comes from this very mistake. Let 
it be our labor to become reconciled to the 
will of God, knowing that it is best; not to 
gain a groundless confidence, and make that 
the ground of a claim on divine favor. In- 
deed, most persons who attempt that, fail, 
even when they think they are successful. 
We have found, moreover, that such faith 
as leaves God to do our work for us, or that 
which faints after a trial or two, may be 
named faith, but is not. Faith takes hold, and 
holds on. But not with the idea that our God 
delays because he is too busy to hear us—like 
Baal gone a hunting—or too indifferent, like 
the unjust judge. Shall he not avenge his 


ownelect? “Itell you he will avenge them 


speedily.” 
And we have found that there is one re- 
quest which is at the foundation of all, and 






210 MEMORIAL, 


which will never be refused—and tha ; ae 
the Holy Spirit. He does not always co: e "e 
just as we expected, or work just as we im. si 
agined ; but he always willingly comes. 

In this at least, O Lord, “Thy will be 
done!” ae i 








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